The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is committed to playing a new role in the devastated Strip policy

A report published by the British newspaper the Financial Times revealed that the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is looking forward to playing a new role in Gaza after the war, as its operations have stopped and controversy has escalated over the methods of distributing aid.

The report’s authors, Neri Zilber and Heba Saleh, said that the organization was subjected to widespread international criticism because of its adoption of a military method in distributing aid, as hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces’ bullets while trying to reach its sites.

The authors added that the organization has suspended food distribution operations in Gaza since the fragile ceasefire took effect, and is no longer part of the current relief efforts supervised by the United Nations and the Red Crescent.

An international role

The agreement stipulates that the aid will be delivered through the United Nations, the Red Crescent, and “other international institutions that are not linked in any way to Israel or Hamas.”

The writers pointed out that the institution is currently holding talks with senior officers in the US Army and officials at the Civil-Military Coordination Center, a multinational body established by the administration of US President Donald Trump in southern Israel to oversee efforts to stabilize Gaza after the war.

According to two informed sources, Israeli-American businessman Michael Eisenberg, who helped plan the establishment of the foundation earlier this year, is participating in these talks.

Israeli Channel 12 indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to appoint Eisenberg as his personal representative in the Civil-Military Coordination Center to support stability in Gaza. Eisenberg and Netanyahu’s office declined to comment, according to the Financial Times.

ideas

The writers stated that the ideas up for discussion include operating food distribution centers in areas still under Israeli military control, managing logistical centers for the reconstruction of the Strip, or providing aid to other non-governmental organizations.

This is despite the fact that the institution is facing a severe financial crisis and the current funding is only sufficient to last until the end of November or the beginning of December.

But the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation considers the suspension of its operations “temporary,” and stresses that its role “is likely to develop, according to the needs on the ground,” according to the British newspaper.

The authors explained that since the start of its operations in May, the organization has faced sharp criticism and widespread controversy due to the ambiguity of its funding sources and its reliance on private security companies to secure aid distribution centers.

Two informed sources told the Financial Times that one of the ideas proposed during the current talks is to restart the corporation’s centers in those areas located behind the yellow line, which represent about half of the sector’s area.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was one of the most prominent supporters of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, considering that it would go beyond what he described as Hamas’s control over the flow of aid, and would marginalize the role of the United Nations. He said that he had allocated funding to the foundation.

The United Nations and most major relief organizations refused to cooperate with it, accusing it of using aid as a weapon to push the Palestinians towards displacement to southern Gaza, a goal that some Israeli officials had previously adopted.

According to health officials in the Gaza Strip, about a thousand Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire while trying to reach the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation centres.

The writers continued that the Foundation insists that there is a “continuous demand for its aid” despite the flow of aid through other channels since the ceasefire took effect.

Two informed sources reported that one of the ideas proposed during the current talks is to restart the corporation’s centers in those areas located behind the yellow line, which represent about half of the sector’s area.