"The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by the US and Israel to oversee the distribution of aid in Gaza, has announced it is ending its controversial mission and is closing aid distribution sites following a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. Under increasing international pressure to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip earlier this year, Israel and the US backed the GHF as an independent agency to administer aid."
"While the UNRWA network operated about 400 sites across the Strip before that, the GHF, guarded by armed US private security contractors, set up only four mega-sites three in southern Gaza and one near Gaza City to distribute food and other aid to Gaza's population of about two million Palestinians. Furthermore, since the organisation began operations in Gaza in May, Israeli forces and some US contractors have routinely opened fire on Palestinians arriving to receive aid."
"Disorganisation around the sites has caused large crowds to gather, and some people have suffocated or died in stampedes. While GHF Executive Director John Acree said in a statement on Monday that the organisation delivered the only aid operation that reliably and safely provided free meals directly to Palestinian people in Gaza, more than 2,000 aid seekers have been crushed to death or killed by gunfire, according to UN figures."
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is ending its mission and closing aid distribution sites after a US-brokered ceasefire. The GHF was backed by the US and Israel to administer aid when Israel blocked UNRWA operations and barred UNRWA workers, alleging without provided evidence that Hamas stole aid. GHF established only four large distribution sites guarded by armed US private security contractors, replacing about 400 UNRWA sites. Operations produced disorganisation, deadly stampedes, and repeated shootings by Israeli forces and some US contractors. More than 2,000 Palestinians were killed at or near GHF distribution sites, according to UN figures.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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