GHF says UN agencies refusing offers to work together to bring more aid into Gaza

A spokesman for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says that the US- and Israeli-backed initiative is willing to deliver food to Palestinians for the United Nations, which he says “has given up distribution altogether.”

“We can get their aid into Gaza safely and securely and have offered to help repeatedly, but they continue to reject our offers,” says GHF spokesman Chapin Fay in a media briefing.

The UN has argued that it will not cooperate with the GHF, as its distribution mechanism has placed Palestinians at risk by forcing them to walk long distances and cross IDF lines in order to pick up aid.

After a steadily improving situation, “desperation levels” in Gaza are rising, says Fay, as the other aid organizations cut back operations, and looting is widespread.

Fay says he was on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing yesterday, and saw tons of aid from UN organizations sitting on the ground undelivered.

“What I saw was disturbing,” he says. “Desperately needed flour rotting on the side of the road. Rice from Jordan that has been sitting, baking for over 90 days. Already expired medical supplies. We spoke with drivers for other aid operations who described harrowing experiences of trucks being overrun and all their cargo looted, their trucks being destroyed.”

He says the driver asked if the GHF could provide security.

“We can provide security,” says Fay. “We can help them deliver aid. The fact that tens of thousands of pallets of aid are sitting inside Gaza, out of reach of starving civilians, is unacceptable.”

“GHF is ready, willing, and able to help the UN and any other aid organization in Gaza deliver aid,” he says.

In the coming days, he says, the GHF will start its “community distribution program,” which 370 individuals and groups have signed up for.

The UN says Israel restrictions and permit rejections are the reason for the mounting stockpiles of aid at the crossings, as aid organizations are regularly barred from transferring aid to warehouses and distribution sites.

Moreover, international organizations say that Israel’s refusal to name a viable alternative to Hamas has created a Somalia-like situation on the ground where the chaotic and desperate situation has significantly marred aid distribution.