Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says ready to resume role in Gaza aid operations as soon as it is asked

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israel-backed non-profit tasked with providing aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, told AFP on Saturday it stands ready to resume shipments under a US-brokered ceasefire.

The organization was given the task of feeding starving Gazans in May after Israel placed tight restrictions on international agencies, but UN experts and traditional aid agencies criticized its work due to the near-daily reports of mass casualty incidents around its aid distribution sites.

GHF spokesman Chapin Fay says the foundation had paused operations during the first phase of Gaza’s ceasefire but was now awaiting orders to get back to work.

“While the situation remains fluid on the ground, GHF has been instructed to remain ready to re-engage and specifically not to take any actions that would preclude us from resuming operations immediately,” Fay says.

“GHF has trucks of aid loaded up and ready to resume delivering aid directly to the Palestinian people, including women, children and the elderly,” he says.

“Our mission will evolve to meet the needs on the ground.”

Despite Fay’s comments, The Times of Israel reported earlier this month that a yet-to-be-publicized humanitarian annex in the Gaza deal does not stipulate a role for the GHF, and officials familiar with the matter said that the organization was not slated to take part in the Strip’s postwar humanitarian operations.

GHF was only able to distribute less than two dozen trucks of aid on average in the month leading up to the ceasefire, as its funding has dried up.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.