THE GAZA HUMANITARIAN Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed private organisation that provided aid for Palestinians in Gaza but was criticised by the UN, said today it is ending its mission.

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) today announced the successful completion of its emergency mission in Gaza after delivering more than 187 million free meals directly to civilians living in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.

The group was highly controversial and received criticism for bypassing UN and other humanitarian aid infrastructure, as well as the deadly violence that frequently broke out at its sites in Gaza.

Médecins sans Frontières – or Doctors Without Borders – called for the organisation to be dismantled in June after over 500 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces near GHF’s distribution sites in just over a month.

MSF said at the time that the group was “degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies”.

Members of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the army deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the month of June to drive them away, even though they posed no threat.

In August, United Nations special rapporteurs also called for it to be disbanded.

The UN-mandated expert panel alleged that under the GHF aid was “exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas”.

The GHF had four distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, while the UN system it replaced had 400.

The group pointed to the agreed ceasefire as the reason for ending its work in Gaza, despite multiple breaches in recent days. Yesterday, at least 24 people were killed in Gaza after Israel launched strikes it said were targeting Hamas militants.

Last week, Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 27 people, officials in the Strip said, with Israel and Hamas each accusing the other of violating the fragile ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Additional reporting by AFP

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