John Haltiwanger & Rishi Iyengar
Foreign Policy / June 6, 2025
[via email]
A controversial new aid distribution system in Gaza—backed by the United States and Israel—has been consumed by chaos and violence since it went into effect last week.
Starving Palestinians have faced gunfire as they attempt to reach desperately needed assistance following an 11-week Israeli blockade on all aid into Gaza, which prompted warnings of famine from the United Nations. The U.N. and other aid groups have boycotted the operation, accusing Israel of weaponizing aid.
Here’s what you need to know about the new system, why it was put into place, why there has been so much pushback, and where Gaza goes from here.
Who is behind the operation ?
The new U.S.- and Israel-backed aid operation is run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a recently formed private organization with murky origins. It’s not clear where the nonprofit, which is registered in Delaware and Switzerland (but is winding down operations in the latter), receives its funding from.
GHF is working with private U.S. security contractors, including Safe Reach Solutions, which is run by Philip Reilly, a former CIA officer. The contractors, who are overseeing the Israeli-designated aid sites, are reportedly armed and have been given as much ammunition as they can carry.
In a major sign of the myriad problems swirling around GHF, the organization’s executive director, Jake Wood, quit in late May—shortly before the new operation was slated to begin—stating that it wasn’t “possible” to implement the plan and adhere to principles of neutrality.
GHF’s new executive director is Rev. Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian leader and former Trump campaign advisor. The Boston Consulting Group, which helped create GHF, also withdrew from the project in recent days as it faced mounting criticism.
Deadly violence and competing claims
On Wednesday, GHF paused operations for 24 hours in the wake of several deadly shootings near aid distribution hubs. Witnesses and health officials have blamed the incidents on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops firing at crowds of Palestinians trying to receive aid.
Israel has contested the nature of its involvement in some of the incidents, but a growing body of evidence undermines the IDF’s claims. The IDF has instead said that it fired “warning shots,” which are meant to be fired into the air and above people’s heads, and has accused Hamas of attempting to disrupt the flow of aid.
The details surrounding these fatal incidents are still emerging, and the U.N. has called for an investigation. Obtaining precise information on what’s happening in Gaza has been a consistent problem throughout the war, especially given that—with few exceptions—Israel has prohibited foreign journalists from entering the enclave since the fighting began.
GHF, which maintains that the recent shootings occurred outside its area of operations, reopened two distribution centers in southern Gaza on Thursday. The organization, which has set up only four locations overall, mostly in the south, said that it’s distributed roughly 7 million meals so far. But the U.N. continues to warn that Palestinians in Gaza are not receiving sufficient levels of food to survive.
Why is this happening?
Israel says the new system is necessary because Hamas steals aid and profits from it. Hamas vehemently denies this. The U.N., which has a strict verification process for distributing assistance and for years has been the primary aid provider in Gaza, has also pushed back on this assertion.
“We haven’t been presented with such evidence to date,” Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told SitRep, adding that the U.N.’s aid system has “proven to work effectively and efficiently” and “has been tested over time and over different crises across the world.”
Israel’s contentious relationship with the U.N., which it has repeatedly accused of antisemitism, is also a major reason why it’s backed a system that circumvents the international organization.
Critics of the new operation also warn that it appears to be designed to force Gazans into the enclave’s south, in line with an Israeli plan to take over the territory.
The new system “fuels displacement,” Cherevko said. “It’s more about control, really, rather than actual distribution. This isn’t aid distribution.”
Expect more chaos.
The problems surrounding the GHF aid operation are indicative of why there was so much opposition to the approach before it even began.
“This is not humanitarian in any way,” Cherevko said. The system makes “aid a bargaining chip,” turning assistance into a tool for military or political objectives, she added. The operation is putting people at risk by limiting assistance to certain areas of Gaza and “leaving dire needs unmet,” Cherevko said.
Humanitarian experts also emphasize that the GHF appears to lack the expertise to carry out this operation, amid reports that the Palestinians receiving aid aren’t being screened.
Food distribution operations in conflict zones are “really intricate, detailed, and sophisticated,” and you can’t just set up a table and hand out boxes, said a U.N. official who spoke to SitRep on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue and concerns for the safety of their colleagues. “How do we know that’s going to the right people?” the official said.
“We as humanitarians have contacts. We have systems. We have modalities. We have an ability to collect information, to analyse information, to look at the vulnerabilities of the population,” the official said. “Starving people are really dangerous,” the official added, and the private security contractors overseeing this operation seem to have a “very limited understanding of the community.”
The U.N. warns that unless there’s a drastic shift in approach, more pandemonium is likely.
“This is not the way to approach this at all,” Cherevko said. “Unless anything changes, it will be the same or get worse.”
John Haltiwanger & Rishi Iyengar – Foreign Policy’s Situation Report
