US-Israel aid plan ‘washes’ Gaza genocide
Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness has told Al Jazeera that a new scheme to deliver aid in Gaza is “aid washing”.
“It’s quite simply the use of humanitarian aid to justify the weaponisation of humanitarian assistance, but also to justify ethnic cleansing and genocide,” Gunness said.
Gunness added that the plan, led by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, could have other serious consequences.
“The subcontracting of aid to mercenaries is the sort of disaster we saw with the ‘flour massacre’ in February last year, when over 100 people were killed when inexperienced people brought in trucks,” he said.
First aid deliveries by GHF raise concerns among Palestinians
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has released photos of a group of locals who received aid parcels from a distribution centre in one of the areas under Israeli control.
But it’s very difficult for people to get aid from the recently formed aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza.
Many Palestinians are questioning the neutrality of the foundation and the use of aid as a political tool to control the movement of the population. In fact, only those who move southwards will get aid, while those who are in central and northern Gaza will not.
People who move southwards would have to make a very long journey under very dangerous circumstances. They are also very concerned that they would be relocated and would not be able to return home.
People carry boxes of aid as GHF said it has commenced aid distribution in Rafah, May 26
Imagine carrying a 40 pound box 25 km, while suffering from malnutrition, past crowds of starving people to get back to your family...
UN calls for Gaza crossings opening, calls GHF ‘a distraction’
The UN says it has no information on whether the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had actually distributed any aid in Gaza, as the US-backed group announced yesterday.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the spokesperson of the UN humanitarian office labelled the reported operations of the GHF “a distraction”.
“What is actually needed,” OCHA’s Jens Laerke said, “is a reopening of all the crossings into Gaza, a secure environment within Gaza, and faster facilitation of missions and final approvals of all the emergency supplies that we have just outside the border and needs to get in.”
The spokesperson also called for an end to Israeli curbs on the kind of aid being allowed to enter Gaza, which he said was being “cherry-picked” and did not always match needs.
Separately, UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the same briefing via videolink that UN agencies do not “have any information” about the delivery of any supplies by the GHF into the besieged territory.
“We know what’s needed, we know what’s missing, and we are very, very far from that daily target,” Touma said.
“The needs are 500-600 trucks at a minimum that should go into Gaza, loaded with supplies. Not only food but also medicine, medical supplies, vaccines for children, fuel, water and other basics for people’s survival.”
A woman carrying jerrycans walks along with other Palestinians transporting their belongings as they flee the northern Gaza Strip towards the south
