The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says that it will begin distributing aid supplies in the Gaza Strip later Monday as part of a new mechanism viewed highly sceptically by existing aid providers including the United Nations.
By the end of the week, the foundation says it will reach more than 1 million Palestinians – nearly half the total population of about 2.2 million.
Israeli broadcaster Kan reported, citing Israeli officials, that the first of four GHF distribution centre would open in the Gaza Strip during the course of the day.
Food parcels are to be handed out to the population from these distribution centres. The foundation also plans to construct more distribution centres, the report said.
The UN is critical of the foundation, partly because it says civilians could be caught in the crossfire on the way to the distribution centres and the route there could be an insurmountable hurdle for the elderly and sick.
The executive director of the GHF, Jake Wood, earlier announced his resignation from the foundation, saying that it threatened humanitarian principles.
He said “it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” according to multiple media outlets.
Wood is a US military veteran who founded a humanitarian response service called Team Rubican and also leads an online platform to enable corporate aid giving.
On his LinkedIn page he had previously described the GHF model as “unconventional,” but said that he was aiming “to help lead this effort at a moment when new thinking and trusted execution are urgently needed.”
Aid organizations are warning of a famine in the Gaza Strip.
In March, Israel blocked all aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip as a temporary ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas collapsed.
The Israeli government accuses Hamas of stealing aid in order to make money to finance its fighters and weapons; the group, classified as a terrorist organization by the US and EU, denies the accusation. The UN says that Israel has provided no evidence of this.
Israel says the new mechanism for distributing aid supplies will prevent Hamas from benefiting from the deliveries.