Fifteen international human rights organisations have called on the Israel- and US-backed Gaza food delivery group, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and other private groups running humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza to cease their operations or face legal consequences.
In alettersent on Monday to GHF and the affiliated Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, the rights advocates warned that private contractors operating in Gaza in collaboration with the Israeli government risk “aiding and abetting or otherwise being complicit in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide”. They also noted that the contractors may be liable under US law and in other jurisdictions.
The letter marks the latest warning against GHF, which has been mired in controversy since replacing most UN-run relief operations inGaza. Major aid groups have boycotted it and accused it of violating the principles of neutrality and independence that are bedrocks of humanitarian work. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rollout of GHF operations over the last three weeks – after a two-month blockade on most aid entering Gaza that has pushed the territory’s 2.1 million residents to the verge offamine– has been deadly. Scores ofPalestinians seeking food aid have been killedby Israeli forces inchaoticscenessurrounding four privately run distribution hubs a UN official has described as “death traps”.
“GHF’s militarized model, coupled with its close collaboration with Israeli authorities, undermines the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence,” the letter sent on Monday warned. “We urge all parties involved – State actors, corporate entities, donors and individuals – to immediately suspend any action or support that facilitates the forcible displacement of civilians, contributes to starvation or other grave breaches of international law, or undermines the core principles of international humanitarian law.”
Earlier this month, the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights had warned in a separatelettertoJohnnie Moore, the evangelical leader and Trump adviser appointed to run the foundation after its former head resigned, that he and other GHF representatives may face civil litigation or criminal prosecution.
“Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the weeks since GHF began its dehumanizing, militarized ‘distribution hubs’ in coordination with Israeli forces,” said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at CCR, which also signed on to the most recent letter. “If it continues its deadly, militarized operations, legal consequences will follow, whether in the United States or beyond.”
Raji Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, another signatory, said it was “immoral and inhuman when those committing the genocide take responsibility to feed those whom they have starved”.
“They are using the GHF to humiliate, degrade and kill daily tens of starving people,” he added, referring to Israel.
Last week, the US senator Elizabeth Warrenquestionedthe Trump administration’s proposal to redirect $500m from USAID, which the administration has gutted, to GHF, which is registered in the US and Switzerland.
“The questions surrounding GHF – its funding sources and connection to the Trump Administration, its use of private contractors, its ability to serve and be seen as a neutral entity, its abandonment by its founders, and its basic competence in providing aid – must be answered before the State Department commits any funding to the organization,” Warren wrote.
Human rights and humanitarian groups across the world have denounced the replacement of independent, long-established humanitarian relief operations by private, militarized groups and called for UN-operated relief efforts to be allowed in the strip again.
“This is not how you avert famine,” James Elder, Unicef’s global spokesperson,wrote in the Guardian.
“There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We delivered aid at scale during the ceasefire, and we can do it again. We just need to be allowed to do our jobs.”