Head of controversial Israel-backed Gaza aid group resigns
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Head of US- and Israel-Backed Gaza Aid Group Resigns Over Humanitarian Concerns
Jake Wood, a US military veteran and the former executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), stepped down just weeks after the group launched its operations in May. Wood said he could no longer continue with the GHF because the group’s work did not respect the humanitarian principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence” The GHF announced that it will begin aid deliveries in Gaza on Monday.
Jake Wood, a US military veteran and the former executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), stepped down just weeks after the group launched its operations in May. He announced his resignation on Sunday.
Wood said he could no longer continue with the GHF because the group’s work did not respect the humanitarian principles of “humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”
“However, it is clear that 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,” Wood stated.
He ended his statement by calling on Israel to allow more aid to reach Gaza’s population and said that humanitarian principles must be respected, even in the middle of conflict.
The GHF was created with backing from Israel and the US government. But the organization has faced criticism from United Nations agencies and other aid groups, who warned that its operations could endanger civilians in Gaza and undermine independent humanitarian work.
In its response to Wood’s resignation, the GHF board said it was “disappointed” by his decision. It accused critics of focusing more on attacking the organization than helping people in need.
Despite Wood’s departure, the GHF announced that it will begin aid deliveries in Gaza on Monday. The organization said it plans to expand its efforts quickly to feed the entire population of Gaza, which is around 2.3 million people.
The aid comes as Gaza faces a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel recently said it would allow only “minimal” aid into the territory. International organizations have warned that famine is spreading in the enclave, with many people already dying from hunger.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health revealed last week that at least 29 individuals, all of whom were children and elderly, have died from famine in recent days.
Israeli strike kills dozens sheltering in Gaza school, officials say
Israeli strike kills dozens sheltering in Gaza school, officials say. IDF said the area was being used “by the terrorists to plan… attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops” Video footage shared online showed large fires consuming parts of the school, with graphic images of severely burned victims, including children, and survivors suffering critical injuries. Local reports said the head of investigations for the Hamas police in northern Gaza, Mohammad Al-Kasih, was among the dead. The twin attacks are part of a broader Israeli offensive that has escalated in the northern part of the enclave over the past week. The IDF said it hit 200 targets across Gaza in 48 hours as it continued its operations against what it called “terrorist organisations” A senior Hamas official told the BBC on Monday that the group had agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal from mediators.
5 hours ago Share Save Rushdi Abualouf Gaza correspondent, Cairo Raffi Berg BBC News, London Share Save
Reuters A girl stands in the ruins of the school building in Gaza City that was hit by an air strike
At least 54 Palestinians have been killed – most of them in a school building sheltering displaced families – during Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight, hospital directors have told the BBC. Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City was housing hundreds of people from Beit Lahia, currently under intense Israeli military assault. At least 35 were reported to have been killed when the school was hit. Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence said multiple bodies, including those of children, were recovered – many severely burned, after fires engulfed two classrooms serving as living quarters. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre” there.
The IDF said the area was being used “by the terrorists to plan… attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”, and accused Hamas of using “the Gazan population as human shields”. Video footage shared online showed large fires consuming parts of the school, with graphic images of severely burned victims, including children, and survivors suffering critical injuries. Faris Afana, Northern Gaza ambulance service manager, said he arrived at the scene with crews to find three classrooms ablaze. “There were sleeping children and women in those classrooms,” he said. “Some of them were screaming but we couldn’t rescue them due to the fires. “I cannot describe what we saw due to how horrific it was.” Local reports said the head of investigations for the Hamas police in northern Gaza, Mohammad Al-Kasih, was among the dead, along with his wife and children. Separately, a strike on a house in Jabalia in northern Gaza killed 19 people, according to the director of al-Ahli hospital Dr Fadel el-Naim. The Israeli military has not yet commented on what was being targeted. The twin attacks are part of a broader Israeli offensive that has escalated in the northern part of the enclave over the past week. The IDF said it hit 200 targets across Gaza in 48 hours as it continued its operations against what it called “terrorist organisations”. Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC on Monday that the group had agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal from mediators. A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said the plan includes the release of 10 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two phases. In exchange, there would be a 70-day truce, a gradual partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners, including several hundred serving long or life sentences. The BBC has approached the Israeli government for comment on the proposal.
Reuters A boy inspects the damage at the site of an air strike on a school building, now sheltering displaced people, in Gaza City
As mediation efforts continued, an Israeli strike on the home of a Palestinian doctor in Gaza killed nine of her 10 children on Friday. Dr Alaa al-Najjar’s 11-year-old son was injured, along with her husband, Hamdi al-Najjar, who is in critical condition. The nine children – Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra – were aged between just a few months old and 12. The Israeli military has said the incident is under review. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said two of its staff were killed in a strike on their home in Khan Younis the following day. The killing of Ibrahim Eid, a weapon contamination officer, and Ahmad Abu Hilal, a security guard at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah “points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza”, the ICRC said, repeating its call for a ceasefire.
How is the new Gaza aid plan supposed to work — and why are so many aid groups against it?
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the linchpin of a new aid system that would wrest distribution away from aid groups. The new mechanism limits food distribution to a small number of hubs under guard of armed contractors, where people must go to pick it up. Currently four hubs are being set up, all close to Israeli military positions. Jake Wood, the American heading the effort, said Sunday night he was resigning because it was clear the organization would not be allowed to operate independently. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry on Monday warned Palestinians in Gaza against dealing with GHF. The group said it planned to reach more than 1 million Palestinians by the end of the week. It has the support of Israel and the U.S. It claims to have more than $100 million in commitments from a foreign government donor but has not named the donor. The U.N. and Israel have said they are not funding it. It is not clear if Israel agreed to some adjustments, but Wood said that until at least eight hubs are operating, GHF was not capable of handling those supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the linchpin of a new aid system that would wrest distribution away from aid groups led by the U.N., which have carried out a massive operation moving food, medicine, fuel, tents and other supplies across Gaza since the war began in October 2023.
The new mechanism limits food distribution to a small number of hubs under guard of armed contractors, where people must go to pick it up. Currently four hubs are being set up, all close to Israeli military positions. Three are in the far south where few Palestinians are located.
GHF said in a statement that distribution will start as soon as Monday. “We will not be deterred. Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” it said.
The group said it planned to reach more than 1 million Palestinians by the end of the week. Gaza has a population of around 2.3 million.
Jake Wood, the American heading the effort, said Sunday night he was resigning because it was clear the organization would not be allowed to operate independently.
Israel has demanded an alternative plan because it accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid. The United Nations and aid groups deny there is significant diversion. They reject the new mechanism, saying it allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and won’t be effective.
Israel blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for nearly three months, pushing the territory toward famine. Last week, it allowed in a trickle of supplies, saying it would let the U.N. distribute it only until GHF was running.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry on Monday warned Palestinians in Gaza against dealing with GHF.
How will this plan work, who’s behind it and why are aid groups pushing back?
Who’s behind GHF?
GHF publicly launched early this year and is run by a group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials. It has the support of Israel and the United States.
Until resigning, Jake Wood was the face of the foundation. Wood is a U.S. military veteran and co-founder of a disaster relief group called Team Rubicon.
It’s unclear who will now run GHF.
A proposal circulated by the group earlier this month and obtained by the AP included several names, including the former director of the U.N. World Food Program, David Beasley. Neither Beasley nor GHF have confirmed his involvement.
It’s also unclear who is funding GHF. It claims to have more than $100 million in commitments from a foreign government donor but has not named the donor. The U.S. and Israel have said they are not funding it.
What’s their plan?
The GHF’s plan to centralize distribution through hubs is similar to ones designed by Israel.
It says each of its initial four hubs would serve meals for roughly 300,000 people. It has said it will eventually be able to meet the needs of 2 million people. It said it will create more hubs within 30 days, including in the north, but did not specify their exact locations.
Aid will be delivered with the help of private subcontractors transporting supplies in armored vehicles from the Gaza border to the hubs, where they will also provide security. It said the aim is to deter criminal gangs or militants from redirecting aid.
Satellite photos from May 10 obtained by The Associated Press show what appear to be construction of the hubs. The photos show one in central Gaza, close to the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land held by Israeli troops. Three others are in the area of Rafah, south of the Morag Corridor, another military-held strip.
Almost the entire population is currently in northern Gaza — where no hub is currently located — or in central Gaza. They would have to cross through Israeli military lines to reach the hubs near Rafah.
Just before his resignation, Wood spoke of some adjustments, but it is not clear if Israel agreed to them.
In a letter to Israeli officials obtained by the AP, Wood said that until at least eight hubs are operating, the existing U.N.-led system will continue providing food in parallel to GHF. He also said the U.N.-led system would continue in the future to distribute all non-food humanitarian aid — everything from medical supplies to hygiene items and shelter materials. GHF was not capable of handling those supplies, Wood acknowledged.
In the letter, sent to Israel’s military body in charge of aid coordination in Gaza, COGAT, Wood said GHF and Israel had agreed on those terms. There was no confirmation from COGAT, however.
Why aren’t aid groups on board?
The U.N. and aid groups say that the plan would “weaponize aid” for Israel’s military and political purposes.
They say Israel would have power to determine who receives aid and to force the population to move to where it is being distributed, emptying large parts of the territory. That would potentially violate international laws against forced displacement.
“We cannot take part in a system that violates humanitarian principles and risks implicating us in serious breaches of international law,” said Shaina Low, communication adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a leading aid group operating in Gaza.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that under the aid mechanism, Gaza’s population would eventually be moved to a “sterile zone” in Gaza’s far south. He said it was for their protection while Israeli forces fight Hamas elsewhere. He also said once the Palestinians enter the area, “they don’t necessarily go back.”
Israel also says that after Hamas is defeated, it will implement a plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the territory’s population outside Gaza, though it portrays migration as “voluntary.” The Palestinians, along with nearly all of the international community, have rejected the idea.
GHF said in a statement it is independent and apolitical and will not be part of any mass displacement. It said its system is fully consistent with humanitarian principles including impartiality and independence.
Israel had previously told aid groups it intends to vet aid recipients and use facial recognition technology. GHF has said food will be given according to need, without eligibility requirements. However, aid groups say recipients will have to pass close to or through Israeli military positions to reach the hubs, exposing them to vetting.
The U.N and aid groups also say the GHF plan cannot possibly meet the needs of Gaza’s large and desperate population.
Plans for distributing non-food aid remain uncertain. Also, GHF has said each meal it distributes would have 1,750 calories. That is below the 2,100-calorie per day standard for meals in emergency situations used by the U.N.’s World Health Organization, UNICEF and World Food Program.
Aid workers say the change is simply not necessary.
The U.N. and other aid groups “have shown absolutely that they can meet the needs of that population, when allowed to,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said. “We need to just keep reverting back to what works.”
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Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed.
Gaza aid foundation chief quits
The foundation said it aimed to reach a million Palestinians by the end of this week. Jake Wood, executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned because it could not adhere ‘to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence’ His departure underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza. Israel says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it. The new operation will rely on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with Hamas militants. But, many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks. Israel has continued to carry out strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people on Monday, according to local health authorities. In Gaza City, medics said, 30 Palestinians, including women and children who were seeking shelter in a Gaza City school, were killed in an airstrike.
JERUSALEM : The head of a US-backed foundation set to supply aid in Gaza quit unexpectedly on Sunday, a day before the group was due to begin operations, as an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians sheltering inside.
Jake Wood, executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned because it could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
His departure underscores the confusion surrounding the foundation, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and the aid groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.
The groups say the new system will undermine the principle that aid should be overseen by a neutral party. Israel, which floated a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in distributing aid but it had endorsed the plan and would provide security for it.
Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave but the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of two million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under a broad Israeli security umbrella, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
“We plan to scale up rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.
The Switzerland-registered foundation has been heavily criticised by the UN, whose officials have said the private company’s aid distribution plans are insufficient for reaching the more than two million Gazans.
The new operation will rely on four major distribution centres in southern Gaza that will screen families for involvement with Hamas militants, potentially using facial recognition technology, according to aid officials.
But, many details of how the operation will work remain unexplained, and it was not immediately clear whether aid groups that have refused to cooperate with the foundation would still be able to send in trucks.
Hamas condemned the new system, saying it would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime”.
Israel says the system is aimed at separating aid from Hamas, which it accuses of stealing and using food to impose control over the population, a charge rejected by Hamas, which says it protects aid convoys from gangs of armed looters.
Continued airstrikes
While the aid system is worked out, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across the densely populated Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people on Monday, according to local health authorities.
In Gaza City, medics said, 30 Palestinians, including women and children who had been displaced by the 20-month war and were seeking shelter in a Gaza City school, were killed in an airstrike. Images shared widely on social media showed what appeared to be badly burned bodies being pulled from the rubble.
Israel’s military confirmed that it had targeted the school. It said that the building was being used as a centre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants to plan and organise attacks.
Alaa Kabej said his 8-year-old nephew was among the dead in the attack that struck as people slept.
Farah Nussair said the school was sheltering “civilians, children, elderly, women, and men – just the tired ones who needed food and water”. She added, “Our hearts have died,” describing scenes of charred people and body parts.
“We fled to the south, they bombed us in the south. We returned to the north, they bombed us in the north. We came to schools …. There is no security or safety, neither at schools, nor hospitals – not anywhere,” she said, a child in her lap.
Israel’s military said numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.
The military did not provide evidence that the school was being used by militants. On Monday, chief of staff Eyal Zamir said Hamas had lost many assets including its command and control infrastructure.
Another strike on a house in Jabalia, adjacent to Gaza City, killed at least 15 other people, medics said, taking Monday’s death toll to 45.
Israel stepped up military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages who were seized in Hamas’ cross-border attack in Oct 2023.
The campaign, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said will end with Israel in complete control of Gaza, has squeezed the population into an ever-narrowing zone in coastal areas and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas-led Islamist militants stormed Israeli communities on Oct 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its residents from their homes.
The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, many of them civilians, according to its health authorities.
Head of controversial U.S.-backed Gaza aid program quits citing ‘humanitarian principles’
Wood’s resignation came as Israel continues to allow only a trickle of much-needed aid into Gaza. Israel’s blockade on food and medicine halted entry vital supplies for more than two months. Israel banned the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA, from operating in Gaza. The ban sparked alarm among aid groups, with one warning of “disastrous” consequences.. Israel has said the effort was aimed at allowing civilians to receive humanitarian aid “without Hamas interference,” repeating the assertion that the militant group was diverting aid. Civilians, already exhausted and hungry after 18 months of war, displacement and hunger, who do not move south would be at greater risk under Israel’s military assault, aid groups warn. Nearly 54,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave.
In a separate statement, GHF’s board said it was “disappointed” by Wood’s departure, but would push forward with its plan and begin distributing aid in Gaza starting Monday.
“Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” it added, according to Reuters.
Wood’s resignation came as Israel continues to allow only a trickle of much-needed aid into Gaza while also pressing on with its latest military offensive, which has killed hundreds, including children, in the span of weeks.
Before the renewed attacks, Israel’s blockade on food and medicine halted entry vital supplies for more than two months, and spurred a fresh humanitarian crisis in the enclave marked by warnings of widespread starvation.
Israeli-backed plan
Questions have swirled around the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since its launch.
Nate Mook, the former CEO of World Central Kitchen who had previously been reported as a member of the board, told NBC News he had never been involved with the initiative.
Netanyahu said last week that under the plan, aid will be delivered to Palestinian civilians in designated “safe zones,” with already displaced families expected to eventually move once again to southern Gaza “for their own safety.”
Aid groups have warned that in addition to undermining a long-held humanitarian framework in the enclave, that the plan will once again force widespread displacement in Gaza, while also concentrating distribution in areas that may not be accessible to everyone. Civilians, already exhausted and hungry after 18 months of war, displacement and hunger, who do not move south would be at greater risk under Israel’s military assault, the groups warn.
Netanyahu has said the effort was aimed at allowing civilians to receive humanitarian aid “without Hamas interference,” repeating the assertion that the militant group was diverting aid. Humanitarian groups operating in Gaza have denied that the militant group was siphoning off supplies.
Joseph Belliveau, executive director of MedGlobal, an Illinois-based humanitarian nonprofit providing medical aid in Gaza, accused Israel of using a “non-existent problem” to justify its decision to overhaul aid distribution in Gaza in what he described as a bid to gain further control over the enclave.
The aid overhaul comes after Israel banned the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNRWA, from operating in Gaza, alleging that Hamas members had infiltrated the agency and that a number of staff members had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Last August, an independent investigation commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres found that nine staff working for UNRWA, which had thousands of workers in the enclave, may have been involved in the attacks.
The ban, which came into effect in January, sparked alarm among aid groups, with UNRWA Director-General Philippe Lazzarini warning of “disastrous” consequences.
The Biden administration halted funding to UNRWA last year, a measure the Trump administration has supported.
Scarce aid
Humanitarian groups have condemned Israel for trickling only a small amount of aid into Gaza in the week since lifting its blockade.
As of early Monday, just under 500 trucks carrying aid and goods had entered the enclave in the week since Israel announced May 18 that it was lifting its blockade, according to a tally of data shared by COGAT.
That’s roughly the same number of trucks that entered Gaza daily before the war began, according to aid groups.
Nearly 54,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2007.
Israel launched its offensive following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli counts, where just under 60 remain captive, both dead and alive.