From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 26, 2025
GHF says it was only group permitted by Israel to distribute aid in Gaza on Thursday
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation interim executive director, John Acree, says his organization was the only one allowed by Israel to distribute aid in the Strip today after a partial halt by Jerusalem amid concerns over Hamas looting.
“Our hope is this will be a temporary pause and all other aid organizations will soon be able to resume distribution in the region,” Acree says in a statement. “However, it is imperative that aid be distributed in a responsible way directly to the people who need it.”
GHF says it distributed 38,880 boxes of food at three of its sites on Thursday.
GHF says its boxes contain enough food for 5.5 people for 3.5 days, but the contents are dry food products that require preparation elsewhere in war-ravaged Gaza, where community kitchens and cooking supplies are limited.
A UN spokesperson confirms to The Times of Israel that Israeli authorities blocked its teams from accessing the Zikim Crossing in northern Gaza where they had been seeking to pick up assistance.
The partial halt on aid deliveries came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Hamas was continuing to steal aid and ordered the IDF to address the issue within 48 hours.
Netanyahu’s statement came hours after former prime minister Naftali Bennett posted a video showing gunmen on top of an aid convoy making its way through northern Gaza and claimed they were Hamas operatives stealing aid.
There was no confirmation that the gunmen were indeed Hamas operatives, and the Haaretz daily cited witnesses on the ground who claimed the gunmen were members of a clan securing the aid from looters as the trucks made their way to a UN warehouse in northern Gaza.
The UN has acknowledged that its convoys have been plagued by looting, but has blamed armed gangs rather than Hamas and has insisted that the solution is for Israel to allow much more aid into Gaza so that demand decreases.
An average of just 56 trucks have been entering Gaza per day since Israel partially lifted its blockade after 78 days on May 19. The UN says several hundred are needed daily to address the dire need in the Strip.
GHF argues that its model is more effective, asserting that its aid convoys have not been looted, as it has its gunmen who prevent such takeovers.
But the US- and Israeli-backed organization only operates up to four distribution sites for the entire Strip, and Gazans have been forced to walk long distances, while crossing IDF lines to pick up aid. There have been near-daily mass casualty incidents in which the IDF has opened fire on Palestinians it claims strayed off approved access routes or were using them when forbidden. Some of these incidents have taken place on roads used by the UN for aid distribution and are not near GHF sites.
The clip shared by Bennett appeared to be from northern Gaza, where GHF doesn’t operate. One month ago, it said it had received approval from Israel to open a distribution site in northern Gaza but that has yet to come into fruition.
The Times of Israel Community.