A Geneva-Based NGO Is Israel's Answer To Aid In Gaza

2025-05-21 02:10:42

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an NGO backed by Israel and the United States, will privatise aid into Gaza. The United Nations has strongly opposed the plan. This content was published on May 21, 2025 - 10:00 9 minutes Dawn Clancy

Israel's plan to implement a controversial US-backed proposal to overhaul aid delivery in Gaza could signal the end of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the besieged enclave.

The plan, officially called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), also a recently established NGO registered in Geneva, proposes a complete overhaul of aid delivery in Gaza. It would establish humanitarian hubs in the enclave's south that would be managed, facilitated and secured by private companies and military contractors – probably American. It would essentially be sidestepping the robust humanitarian aid delivery system built and maintained by UNRWA for decades.

It comes after Israel imposed a complete blockade on aid into Gaza following the collapse of the temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Humanitarian access has been severely restricted since March 2, and Israeli military operations in Gaza have resumed in full since March 17-18. Last week UN officials and NGOs warned of an impending risk of famine.

Trucks carrying aid wait in front of the Rafah border crossing on March 2 in Rafah, Egypt. 2025 Ali Moustafa

Last week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow limited deliveries of aid into Gaza after mounting pressure from allies while simultaneously vowing to take over all of Gaza to definitively defeat Hamas, a move that was swiftly condemned in a joint statement issued by the United Kingdom, France and Canada.

Anti-UNRWA rhetoric

Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel which killed about 1,200 people, Netanyahu and his far-right government have ramped up anti-UNRWA rhetoric.

On October 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset, the government's legislative arm, adopted two bills effectively banning the UN body from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories. Major donors such as the United States, Sweden and others have cut or paused funding, plunging the organisation into a financial crisis that compounds the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

“It's been clear for a while that Israel does not want UNRWA on the scene at all,” said Anne Irfan, a lecturer at University College London (UCL) and author of the book, Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the International Refugee System.

She says the move is“consistent with the direction Israel has been going” to create an alternative for aid delivery in the Gaza Strip that cuts out UNRWA completely – potentially through other UN organisations such as the World Food Programme (WFP) or through private companies and contractors.

According to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's proposal, the GHF offers a new approach to humanitarian aid based on pragmatism, oversight and leadership. It will deliver essential aid“securely”, employ the world's most“respected” and“prominent” audit and law firms to ensure transparency and apply“strict adherence” to humanitarian principles.“There will be no eligibility requirements for aid,” the proposal says.

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Overview Screenshot: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

However, in a recent address Netanyahu contradicted the proposal by announcing that aid would be given to Palestinians only if they“did not return to the areas from which they came”.

The GHF, according to the proposal, will initially set up four scalable Secure Distribution Sites (SDS) that will each provide 300,000 people with access to food and water and“other necessary supplies”. Beyond the initial phase, the operation can expand to reach two million people in Gaza.

The proposal does not provide details on how the foundation will operate on the ground or where funding for overall operations will come from. At the executive level, the foundation will be governed by“seasoned crisis operators and fiduciaries”.

On Monday an Israeli media outlet, Ynetnews, published images of“armed and vest-clad personnel”, supposedly“former US special forces veterans”, already in Gaza preparing to deliver aid once the GHF is operational, likely after May 24. Until then, the limited deliveries of aid will follow the“old distribution model”, the report said.

According to the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, the GHF would not be an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation.“The IDF will not be involved” in distribution, Huckabee said at a press briefing in Jerusalem on May 9. But he added that the“IDF will be involved in keeping the parameter safe”. When asked by a reporter how the plan would be funded and when it would be rolled out in Gaza, Huckabee said:“I don't know and I don't know.”

In a separate briefing on May 11, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said Israel“fully endorses” the plan, which would prevent Hamas from stealing humanitarian supplies – a claim Hamas denies – and“allows for aid to flow based on international humanitarian law and its principles”. Sa'ar added that Israel would cooperate with countries and NGOs to implement the plan.

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