GHF Food Op start off is a Mess…
After a rollout trumpeted by US officials, the US- and Israeli-backed effort that claimed it would return large-scale food deliveries to Gaza was born an orphan, with questions growing over its leadership, sources of funding and ties to Israeli officials and private US security contractors.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had said it would securely provide food supplies to the Gaza Strip, ending an Israeli blockade that UN officials say have led to the brink of a famine.
Instead, early reports and leaked video of its operations that began this week have depicted a scene of chaos, with crowds storming a distribution site and Israeli military officials confirming they had fired “warning shots” to restore order. Gaza health officials said at least one civilian had been killed and 48 injured in the incident.
In a statement, GHF downplayed the episode, claimed there had been no casualties, and said it had distributed 14,550 food boxes, or 840,262 meals, according to its own calculations.
But GHF had no experience distributing food in a famine zone, and as of Wednesday, its leadership remained opaque, if not deliberately obscure. A number of executives and board members have refuted links to the group or stepped down, including Jake Wood, the ex-Marine who previously headed the group. When he resigned on Sunday, he said that it “is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon”. The group named John Acree, a former senior official at USAID, as its interim executive director.
Both a Geneva-based company and a Delaware-based company tied to the organisation are reportedly being dissolved, a GHF spokesperson told an investigative Israeli media outlet, increasing speculation over its initiators and sources of funding. The New York Times has reported that the idea for the group came from “Israeli officials in the earliest weeks of the war” as a way to undermine Hamas.
And the US state department has also distanced itself from GHF’s operations, with a spokesperson saying she could not speak to the group’s chaotic rollout or what plans could be made to extend aid to hundreds of thousands more people in Gaza who would not receive aid….
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UN Food warehouse broken into by a hungry group of thousands…
Four people have died as thousands of Palestinians burst into a United Nations warehouse in Gaza, tearing away sections of the building’s metal walls in a desperate attempt to find food.
Two people were fatally crushed and two others died of gunshot wounds after the crowd forced its way into the World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday afternoon, health officials said.
It was not immediately clear if Israeli forces, private contractors or others had opened fire. A Red Cross field hospital said injuries from the scene included women and children with gunshot wounds.
Footage showed throngs of people shouting and pushing into the building while others threw bags of flour and boxes into the crowd.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,” WFP said in a statement, which warned of “alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground”.
“Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,” the statement said. “Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve.”…
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Israeli protests in SUPPORT of hostage’s STILL held by Hamas and other groups…
Marking the 600th day of the Israel-Gaza war, thousands of family members of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza have held protests across the country, blocking traffic and calling for a deal securing the release of their loved ones from captivity and an end to the conflict.
“600 days we are without our loved ones, 600 days that Hamas is holding them captive, and the bloody Israeli government is abandoning them to maintain the integrity of their coalition,” the families said in a statement read by Keith Siegel, a former hostage, at a rally in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
“Our families have become the victims of cheap politics at the hands of the prime minister,” they said. “Instead of ending the war and bringing everyone home, he chose [finance minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [national security minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir, who prefer to occupy the Gaza Strip than to save the hostages.”….
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