Gaza Aid: US-Backed Relief Agency Says Delivery To Start Today Its Chief Resigns

A private humanitarian organisation backed by the US and Israel and tasked with distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza will begin delivering aid to the besieged enclave on Monday, it said.

"We plan to scale rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead," the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement after its director resigned, citing the organisations lack of independence.

Jake Wood, a former US Marine and the executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said in a statement that he resigned because the organisation could not adhere "to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon."

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The US-backed private humanitarian organisation is tasked with distributing aid in Gaza using an Israeli-initiated plan.

Humanitarian assistance began trickling into Gaza in recent days after Israel relented to international pressure after enforcing a blockade since early March. A global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation, a quarter of the population in the enclave where Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have been at war since October 2023 .

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies, and is blocking humanitarian deliveries to Gaza until Hamas releases all remaining hostages taken in its attack on Israel.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created in February, has been highly criticised by the UN, whose officials have said the foundation's aid distribution plans would only foment forced relocation of Palestinians and more violence.

That plan, which had been set to begin by the end of May, was initiated by Israel and involves private companies - instead of the UN and aid groups who have handled Palestinian aid for decades - transporting aid into Gaza to a limited number of so-called secure distribution sites, which Israel said would be in Gaza's south.

Wood earlier this month wrote a letter to Israel, saying the foundation would not share any personally identifiable information of aid recipients with Israel.

Wood also asked Israel to facilitate the flow of enough aid "using existing modalities" until the foundation's infrastructure is fully operational. He wrote that was essential to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian pressure and ease pressure on the distribution sites during the foundation's first days of operation.

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