The heads of the U.S. and Israel-backed aid team defended their work after repeated killings and injuries from Palestinians seeking assistance.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) owner Johnnie Moore told the BBC World Authority’s new car that he did not deny deaths near the aid site, but said: “100% of the casualties were attributed to the proximity to the GHF”, which is “incorrect”.
He accused the United Nations and other international organizations of spreading information they could not verify.
this UN agencies have condemned GHF aid systemOn Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres marked it as “inherent insecurity.”
“Any action that brings desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. Finding food is by no means a death penalty,” the UN chief said.
Hamas, Gaza – The Ministry of Operations and Health said more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 injured when they were on their way to obtain assistance, the Ministry of Operations and Health said.
In the days of the GHF operation that began in late May, dozens of Palestinians died in separate incidents from June 1 to 3, sparking international condemnation.
Since then, the United Nations and aid organizations have warned of recent daily reports that Palestinians were killed near the GHF site, which is within the Israeli military zone.
Witnesses and medical staff have described several times that Israeli troops opened fire in a crowd near the aid site.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a story on Friday in which unnamed IDF soldiers said they were ordered to shoot among unarmed civilians near the aid allocation site to expel them or disperse them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious and false.”
The IDF said in a statement to the BBC that “the troops were not instructed to intentionally shoot civilians, including those close to the distribution center.”
It added that it is seeking to improve “operational response” in the aid area and recently added new fences and signage and opened new routes to reach the handout area.
“100% of the casualties are attributed to the IDF – we can say that this is not true either,” said the head of the GHF.
In a statement over the past month, the IDF has repeatedly stated that they have fired a “warning” to individuals they call “suspects” or claim to pose a threat.
“We spent a long time trying to understand what was actually going on, if what was actually going on and if there was a way to make it unlikely,” Moore said.
“In most cases, we can’t be sure of anything that’s going on.”
He added: “People need to understand that it is false to be killed by people going to the GHF website and we have no evidence that this happens when it is close to our website.”
Israel does not allow international news organizations, including the BBC, to send journalists to Gaza, which limits our ability to verify what is happening in the territory.
Mr Moore claimed that most UN aid trucks were hijacked by gunfire before the GHF operation.
The United Nations has said there is no evidence of a massive hijacking of its aid trucks. When told this, Mr. Moore said “the United Nations is not honest”.
Aid to Gaza Still think it’s insufficientAlthough Israel partially eased the 11-week lockdown introduced in March last month. Experts warn that the territory remains on the brink of famine.
GHF hopes to reach the milestone of serving 50 million meals in Gaza, with less than one meal per person per person since the start of operations.
When pushing whether food really attracts people who need it the most, Mr. Moore acknowledged the operation was “inefficient” but said 50 million meals were available than a month ago.
He said the GHF needs to scale up and hopes to work with organizations such as the United Nations.
“The mission is clear. We just want to feed the Gaza people,” he added.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department announced $30 million (£22 million; €26 million) of funding to the GHF, its first known direct donation.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to respond to Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were taken hostage.
More than 56,000 people have been killed above Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-Operation Ministry of Operations.
