NGOs urge end to US-backed Gaza aid distribution system
The NGOs urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed in the war-torn territory until March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
'NGOs call for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme (including the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) in Gaza,' the organisations wrote in a joint statement Monday.
They urged action to 'revert to the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms, and lift the Israeli government's blockade on aid and commercial supplies'.
The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been tasked with distributing aid in the Palestinian territory since late May, when the two-month blockade was partially eased after mounting international condemnation and warnings of imminent famine.
GHF operations have since been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect rations in the territory, where the Israeli military is seeking to destroy Hamas.
The signatories to Monday's statement included NGOs from Europe, the United States and Israel working in medical assistance, hunger relief, development and human rights.
They said more than 500 Palestinians were killed and almost 4,000 injured while trying to access or distribute food in less than four weeks. The Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry has given similar figures.
'Under the Israeli government's new scheme, starved and weakened civilians are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites,' the statement read.
Aid distribution in Gaza was traditionally coordinated through various NGOs and UN agencies, notably the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which had 13,000 staff in the coastal enclave before the war.
Israel said it tasked GHF with distribution in Gaza to keep Hamas from controlling the flow of aid.
The Israeli military last week denied a newspaper report that cited Israeli soldiers as saying they had been ordered to fire at civilians near aid centres.
It said in a statement that it was 'operating to allow and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid' by GHF, 'and to secure the routes leading to the distribution centers, in order to allow the aid to reach the civilians rather than Hamas'.
It added that it was examining 'reports of incidents of harm to the civilians approaching the distribution centres'.
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