Israel defends Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as UN pushes to control aid

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S. and Israeli-backed group, has been the subject of backlash since before it began distributing aid last month. Since the beginning of its operations there have been reports of violent incidents near distribution sites. Recently, the IDF admitted that troops shot “suspects” who failed to heed orders to back away from the soldiers.

One of the most vocal critics of GHF has been the United Nations, with U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher urging the world to let his agency handle the situation. However, Israeli officials have pushed back on the U.N. narrative, saying that GHF is distributing aid without letting Hamas benefit.

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“Hamas is doing everything that it can to sabotage this effort to distribute aid directly to the people,” Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Oren Marmorstein told Fox News Digital.  He also said that the terror group is “extremely afraid” that if the GHF is successful, it will “lose its grip” on the population of Gaza.

Marmorstein blamed Hamas for spreading “fake news” and “fake information” to take down the GHF.

On Wednesday, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages and the lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Strip. Israel has repeatedly asserted that without limitations on aid entering Gaza, Hamas would be able to enrich itself and keep control over the area.

In remarks ahead of the veto, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Dorothy Shea criticized the resolution, saying it failed to “acknowledge the disastrous shortcomings of the prior method of aid delivery, which allowed Hamas to enrich itself at the expense of Palestinians, and failed to get food and water to those who needed it most.”

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She also urged U.N. member states to support GHF “to help it safely deliver aid without it being diverted by Hamas.”

Shea is not alone in her criticism of the U.N.’s approach to GHF. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon recently accused the international body of employing “mafia-like” tactics against NGOs that worked with GHF.

“Without any discussion, without due process, the U.N. removed those NGOs from the shared aid database. That database is the central system for tracking aid deliveries into Gaza,” Danon told the Security Council on May 28. “This is the gravest violation of the U.N.’s own principles. It is extortion of well-meaning NGOs that refuse to kiss the ring.”

The GHF closed its distribution sites on Wednesday, saying it was working to bolster security and would reopen on Thursday. However, the reopening was delayed because of maintenance work. The sites eventually resumed aid distribution later on Thursday.