GHF boss defends Gaza aid operation after hundreds of Palestinians killed near sites

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Reuters A Palestinian man carrying a sack of aid in Khan Younis last month

The head of a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid group has defended its work after repeated incidents of killings and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) boss Johnnie Moore told the BBC World Service’s Newshour he was not denying deaths near aid sites, but said “100% of those casualties are being attributed to close proximity to GHF” and that was “not true”. He accused the UN and other international organisations of spreading information they could not verify. The GHF aid system has been condemned by UN agencies, and on Friday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres branded it “inherently unsafe”.

“Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” the UN chief said. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 injured on their way to get aid since GHF took over aid distribution. Within days of GHF operations starting in late May, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on 1 and 3 June, sparking international condemnation. Since then, the UN and aid groups have expressed alarm at the near-daily reports of Palestinians being killed near the GHF’s sites, which are inside Israeli military zones. Eyewitnesses and medics have on several occasions described Israeli forces opening fire on crowds near aid points. Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a story on Friday in which unnamed IDF soldiers said they were ordered to shoot at unarmed civilians near aid distribution sites, to drive them away or disperse them. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report calling the allegations “malicious falsehoods”. In a statement to the BBC, the IDF said it “did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centres”. It added it was looking to improve “the operational response” in the aid areas and had recently added new fencing and signage, and opened new routes to reach the handout zones. For his part, the head of the GHF said “100% of the casualties are being attributed to the IDF – as best as we can tell that’s also not true”. In statements over the past month, the IDF have several times said they fired “warning shots” at individuals who they described as “suspects” or claimed posed a threat. “We spend an extended period of time trying to understand what actually happened, if anything actually happened and whether there’s a way that we can make it less likely to happen,” Mr Moore said. “In most circumstances we haven’t been able to identify anything happening.” “People need to understand that it is disinformation that people going to GHF sites are being killed, we have no evidence of that happening in proximity to our sites,” he added. Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, to send journalists into Gaza, which limits our ability to verify what is happening on the ground in the territory.

Mr Moore alleged that prior to GHF’s operations the majority of UN aid trucks were being hijacked at gunpoint. The UN has said there is no evidence for a large-scale hijacking of its aid trucks. When told this, Mr Moore said the “UN is not being honest”. The volume of aid entering Gaza is still considered inadequate, despite Israel last month partially easing an 11-week blockade introduced in March. Experts have warned the territory remains on the brink of famine. The GHF is hoping to reach the milestone of providing 50 million meals in Gaza, which would equate to less than a meal a day per person since operations began. When pushed on whether food was really getting to the people who needed it most, Mr Moore admitted the operation was “insufficient”, but said 50 million meals was more than had been available a month ago. He said the GHF needs to scale up and hopefully work with organisations such as the UN. “The mission is clear. We just want to feed Gazans,” he added. On Thursday, the US State Department announced $30m (£22m; €26m) in funding for the GHF, which is its first known direct contribution to the group.

A month into Gaza’s new aid system – killings, gunfire and chaos are routine

15 hours ago Share Save Merlyn Thomas, Kevin Nguyen & Kayleen Devlin BBC Verify Share Save

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In the four weeks since the launch of a controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid system in Gaza, there have been repeated incidents of killings and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid. According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, in the past month more than 500 people on their way to get aid have been killed and 4,000 injured. To get a clearer understanding of how the last month has unfolded, BBC Verify has analysed dozens of videos from across Gaza that offer an insight into what this aid system looked like on the ground. Footage shows a near-daily cycle of chaos, panic, live gunfire and dead or injured Palestinians. While the videos show an overall picture of danger and chaos, they do not definitively show who is responsible for firing in each incident. However in many cases, eyewitnesses and medics have described Israeli forces opening fire on crowds near aid sites. In statements over the past month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have several times said they fired “warning shots” at individuals who they described as “suspects” or said posed a threat. The IDF has told BBC Verify that Hamas does “everything in its power to prevent the success of food distribution in Gaza, tries to disrupt aid, and directly harms the citizens of the Gaza Strip”. On 18 May Israel announced it was partially easing its 11-week long blockade of aid into Gaza, which it had said was aimed at putting pressure on Hamas to release hostages. The IDF built four aid distribution sites – three in the far south-west of Gaza and one in central Gaza by an Israel security zone known as the Netzarim Corridor – which began operations on 26 May. These sites in IDF-controlled areas – known as SDS 1, 2, 3 and 4 – are operated by security contractors working for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with the Israeli military securing the routes to them and the perimeters. On Thursday the US State Department announced $30m (£22m; €26m) in funding for the GHF – the first known direct contribution to the group. From the start the UN condemned the plan, saying it would “militarise” aid, bypass the existing distribution network and force Gazans to make long journeys through dangerous territory to get food. Within days of the plan starting, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on 1 and 3 June, sparking international condemnation. Since then there have been near-daily reports of killings of people travelling to collect aid.

The IDF said that its “forces conduct systematic learning processes aimed at improving the operational response in the area and minimizing possible friction between the population and the IDF forces”. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer called reports of people killed while getting aid “another untruth”. “There have not been hundreds of people dying.” The GHF denied there had been any “incident or fatalities at or near” any of its distribution sites. On Tuesday, the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah had had to activate its mass casualty procedures 20 times since 27 May, with the vast majority of patients suffering gunshot wounds and saying they had been on the way to an aid site. The UN and its World Food Programme as well as other aid providers are continuing to try to distribute aid in Gaza, but they say they are reliant on the Israeli authorities to facilitate their missions. The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the killing of Palestinians trying to access aid was a “likely war crime”. International human rights lawyer Sara Elizabeth Dill told BBC Verify that if there had been any intentional targeting of civilians, it could constitute a serious violation of international law. “Mass shootings during civilian relief access violate core rules against targeting civilians and using starvation against them, potentially rising to war crimes,” she said.

Chaos on the coast

Three videos, the first of which was published on 9 June, showed hundreds of people, some holding what appear to be empty flour sacks, scrambling over mounds of rubble and hiding in ditches. Several bursts of automatic gunfire can be heard. On that day, the Hamas-run health ministry reported six people had been killed that morning while seeking aid and more than 99 injured. The next day, it reported 36 aid-related deaths and more than 208 injuries.

BBC Verify has analysed videos showing panic and chaos as people try to get aid in Gaza

It’s not possible to verify whether any of these casualties were a result of the gunfire that could be heard in the footage. We were able to confirm the videos were filmed from about 4km (2.5 miles) north-west of SDS4, on the way to the site in central Gaza. Audio analysis of the gunfire from Steve Beck, a former FBI consultant who now runs Beck Audio Forensics, said one of the guns sounded like and fired at rates consistent with the FN Minimi machine gun and the M4 assault rifle. The second gun, Mr Beck said, fired at a rate that was “compatible” with the sound of an AK-47. We cannot establish whose weapons were firing but FN Minimis and M4s are commonly used by the IDF, while AK-47s are typically used by Hamas and other groups in Gaza. In footage published the next day, on 10 June, and filmed nearby, more crowds were seen running in panic as the sound of gunfire, followed by what sounds like an explosion, was heard in the distance. Injured and bloodied people, including children, were then seen being carried away. GHF has maps showing “safe passages” to its sites and communicates opening times via WhatsApp and social media.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation “safe passage” to the northernmost aid site

Each passage has a “start point” and a ”stop point” with Palestinians warned that they must not cross the latter until instructed. The GHF has said these corridors are secured by the IDF and warned people that crossing these stop points, unless told to, may be dangerous. But at SDS4 there was no safe passage planned for people coming from the north.

Deaths by the truck

There have also been killings close to non-GHF related aid sites. Verified footage from 17 June showed at least 21 bodies and several injured people on a road in which several vehicles, including a heavily damaged flatbed truck, were parked. Witnesses told the BBC that IDF drones and a tank fired at the crowd as they were waiting to collect aid.

Instagram / @adli_ham In a graphic video we have verified, people run in panic near bodies

An IDF statement acknowledged that it had identified a “gathering” of people “adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Yunis, and in proximity to IDF troops operating in the area”. It said: “The IDF is aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd’s approach.” It expressed regret for “any harm to uninvolved individuals” and said the details of the incident were under review. A spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency said at least 50 people were killed at the scene. The video shows a number of the dead around scorch marks on the ground, including one person with their legs blown off. Mark Cancian, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, noted the lack of obvious impact crater but told us the extent of damage was likely the result of “a lot of direct fire”.

Bodies being moved

Another video posted on 16 June, which we’ve verified, shows bodies pulled on a cart by a horse along al-Rashid street in northern Gaza, the main coastal road and often used by aid convoys. The caption alongside the video claims that these Palestinians were killed while waiting for aid.

Instagram / @mohammed_abu_loay In one verified video, a crowd walks alongside a cart carrying bodies

When Iran’s supreme leader emerges from hiding he will find a very different nation

2 days ago Share Save Kasra Naji Special Correspondent, BBC Persian Share Save

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After spending nearly two weeks in a secret bunker somewhere in Iran during his country’s war with Israel, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, might want to use the opportunity of the ceasefire to venture out. He is believed to be holed up, incommunicado, for the fear of being assassinated by Israel. Even top government officials apparently have had no contact with him. He would be well advised to be cautious, despite the fragile ceasefire that the US President Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar brokered. Though President Trump reportedly told Israel not to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not rule it out. When – or indeed if – he does emerge from hiding, he will see a landscape of death and destruction. He will no doubt still appear on state TV claiming victory in the conflict. He will plot to restore his image. But he will face new realities – even a new era. The war has left the country significantly weakened and him a diminished man.

Murmurs of dissent at the top

During the war, Israel quickly took control of much of Iran’s airspace, and attacked its military infrastructure. Top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard and the army were swiftly killed. The extent of the damage to the military is still unclear and disputed, but the repeated bombings of the army and revolutionary guard bases and installations suggests substantial degradation of Iran’s military power. Militarisation had long consumed a vast amount of the nation’s resources. Iran’s known nuclear facilities that earned the country nearly two decades of US and international sanctions, with an estimated cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, are now damaged from the air strikes, although the full extent of this has been hard to assess. What was it all for, many are asking.

Getty Images The war has left Iran significantly weakened

A vast number of Iranians will singularly hold Ayatollah Khamenei, who first became leader in 1989, responsible for setting Iran on a collision course with Israel and the US that ultimately brought considerable ruin to his country and people. They will blame him for pursuing the ideological aim of destruction of Israel – something many Iranians don’t support. They will blame him for what they perceive as a folly – his belief that achieving nuclear status would render his regime invincible. Sanctions have crippled the Iranian economy, reducing a top oil exporter to a poor and struggling shadow of its former self. “It is difficult to estimate how much longer the Iranian regime can survive under such significant strain, but this looks like the beginning of the end,” says Professor Lina Khatib, a visiting scholar at Harvard University. “Ali Khamenei is likely to become the Islamic Republic’s last ‘Supreme Leader’ in the full sense of the word.”

Getty Images Ayatollah Khamenei, who became leader in 1989, has been accused of setting Iran on a collision course with Israel

There have been murmurs of dissent at the top. At the height of the war, one semi-official Iranian news agency reported that some top former regime figures have been urging the country’s quieter religious scholars based in the holy city of Qom, who are separate to the ayatollah, to intervene and bring about a change in leadership. “There will be a reckoning,” according to Professor Ali Ansari, the founding director of the Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. “It’s quite clear that there are huge disagreements within the leadership, and there’s also huge unhappiness among ordinary people.”

‘Anger and frustration will take root’

During the last two weeks, many Iranians wrestled with conflicted feelings of the need to defend their country versus their deep hatred of the regime. They rallied for the country, not by coming out to defend the regime, but to look after each other. There have been reports of vast solidarity and closeness. People in towns and villages outside urban areas opened their doors to those who had fled the bombardments in their cities, shopkeepers undercharged basic goods, neighbours knocked on each other’s doors to ask if they needed anything. But many people were also aware that Israel was probably looking for a regime change in Iran. A regime change is what many Iranians wish for. They may draw the line on a regime change engineered and imposed by foreign powers, however.

Getty Images Many Iranians may draw the line on a regime change engineered by foreign powers

In his nearly 40 years of his rule, Ayatollah Khamenei, one of the world’s longest reigning autocrats, has decimated any opposition in the country. Opposition political leaders are either in jail or have fled the country. Abroad, the opposition figures have been unable to formulate a stance that unites the opposition to the regime. They have been ineffectual in the establishment of any semblance of an organisation able to take over inside the country if the opportunity arises. And during the two weeks of war, when the collapse of the regime could have been a possibility, if the war went on relentlessly, many believed the likely scenario for the day after was not the takeover by the opposition, but the descent of the country into chaos and lawlessness. “It is unlikely that the Iranian regime will be toppled through domestic opposition. The regime remains strong at home and will ramp up domestic oppression to crush dissent,” says Prof Khatib.

Getty Images Few people in Iran think that the ceasefire brokered on Monday will last

Iranians are now fearing further clampdown by the regime. At least six people have been executed in the past two weeks since the start of the war with Israel on charges of spying for Israel. Authorities say they have arrested around 700 people on this charge. One Iranian woman told BBC Persian what she fears more than the death and destruction of the war is a regime that is wounded and humiliated turning its anger against its own people. “If the regime is unable to supply basic goods and services, then there will be growing anger and frustration,” says Prof Ansari. “I see it as a staged process. I don’t see it as something that, necessarily, in a popular sense, will take root until long after the bombing is over.” Few people in Iran think that the ceasefire brokered on Monday will last – and many believe Israel is not yet finished now that it has total superiority in the sky over Iran.

Iran’s ballistic missile silos

One thing that seems to have escaped the destruction are Iran’s ballistic missile silos that Israel found hard to locate as they are placed in tunnels under mountains throughout the country. The Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, said Israel launched its opening attack on Iran knowing that “Iran possessed around 2,500 surface-to-surface missiles”. The missiles that Iran fired caused considerable death and destruction in Israel. Israel will be concerned about the remaining possible 1,500 still in the hands of the Iranian side. There is also a serious concern in Tel Aviv, Washington and other Western and regional capitals that Iran may still rush to build a nuclear bomb, something it has continued to deny trying to do.

Getty Images President Trump reportedly told Israel not to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Although Iran’s nuclear facilities have almost certainly been set back, and possibly rendered useless during the bombings by Israel and the US, Iran said it had moved its stockpile of highly enriched Uranium to a safe secret place. That stockpile of 60% Uranium, if enriched to 90%, which is a relatively easy step, is enough for about nine bombs, according to experts. Just before the war started, Iran announced that it had built another new secret facility for enrichment that was due to come on stream soon. The Iranian parliament has voted to sharply reduce its cooperation with the UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This still requires approval, but if it passes Iran would be one step away from exiting the nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, the NPT – as hardliners supporting the supreme leader push for Iran’s breakout to build a bomb. Ayatollah Khamenei may now be confident that his regime has survived, just. But at the age of 86 and ailing, he also knows that his own days may be numbered, and he may want to ensure continuity of the regime with an orderly transition of power – to another senior cleric or even a council of leadership. In any case, the remaining top commanders of the Revolutionary Guard who have been loyal to the supreme leader may be seeking to wield power from behind the scenes. Top image credit: Pacific Press via Getty

UN condemns Gaza aid ‘death trap’ as dozens reported killed by Israeli fire

4 days ago Share Save Yolande Knell Middle East correspondent Share Save

AFP There were chaotic scenes as men with gunshot wounds were brought to al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat

At least 46 people waiting for aid have been killed by Israeli fire in two incidents in central and southern Gaza, according to rescuers and hospitals. UN agencies have condemned the US and Israel-backed food distribution system, with one official calling it “an abomination” and “a death trap”. Such deadly incidents have recently become a near daily occurrence but have attracted relatively little attention outside Gaza since Israel attacked Iran more than a week ago. Without including the latest deaths, the UN has said that more than 410 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli gunfire or shelling since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began work in late May.

“Why are our children’s lives seen as so cheap?” demanded Umm Raed al-Nuaizi, a widow whose son was shot and wounded after he went overnight to collect food for his hungry family in central Gaza. “My son went to get a grain of flour so that he could eat and feed his siblings, and now he is in the intensive care unit.”

Umm Raed al-Nuaizi’s son was shot and wounded after he went to collect food

Footage from al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat showed chaotic scenes as young men with gunshot wounds were carried in, groaning in pain and some drenched in blood. Soon every bed was filled, and casualties covered the floor. An older man was set down dead as his wife, bereft, cradled his face and wept. Hospital officials and the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said that at least 21 people were killed and some 150 injured. Witnesses said that thousands had crowded near a site run by the GHF in an Israeli military zone when soldiers opened fire. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a gathering had been “identified in an area adjacent to IDF troops operating in the Netzarim corridor”. “Reports of injured individuals as a result of IDF fire in the area were received. The details are under review,” it stated. The GHF said there were “no incidents near any of our sites this morning”.

AFP Some men were pictured returning to Nuseirat with bags of food aid overnight

Paramedics and rescuers said that at least 25 people were also killed near a site run by the GHF in southern Gaza on Tuesday morning. A witness told the BBC that he had gone to a site north of Rafah at 05:00, but shortly before it was due to open at 10:00, Israeli tanks advanced towards them and opened fire with no announcements. “The shooting was directly on the civilians and blood got everywhere,” Hatem Abu Rjileh said. “Everyone around us got wounded, there may be more than 30 wounded whom no-one was able to rescue. We only managed to rescue our relative and left with him.” The IDF told the BBC that “contrary to the reports being spread out, the IDF is not aware of the incident in question at the Rafah aid distribution site”.

Israel eased its total blockade of Gaza just over a month ago, and the GHF began operations a few days later. The group says it has since provided 41 million meals. While GHF is officially classed as a private organisation, it has opaque funding and is backed by the US and Israel. It uses armed private security contractors. The UN and major aid groups have refused to co-operate with the foundation, accusing it of co-operating with Israel’s goals in the 20-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles. However, Israel sees the GHF as key to a new aid plan which it says will undermine what remains of Hamas control in Gaza.

Reuters People desperate for aid have also taken to gathering along aid convoy routes

As news of the latest incidents broke, a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen al-Kheetan, held a briefing in Geneva condemning the system. “Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” he said. “The weaponization of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services constitutes a war crime.” He added that it was for courts to decide if war crimes had been committed. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said: “The newly created, so-called mechanism is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people. It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves.” Asked for a response to recent UN criticism, the IDF told the BBC that it allowed the GHF “to operate independently in distributing aid to the residents of Gaza and is working to ensure its safe and continuous distribution, in accordance with international law”.

Reuters More than 410 Palestinians are reported to have been killed by Israeli gunfire or shelling while trying to reach aid distribution points since late May

US joining Israeli strikes would cause hell, Iranian minister tells BBC

Watch: ‘This will be hell for the whole region’

His comments came after the Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack. Iranian state media reported that the strike targeted a military site next to the hospital, and not the facility itself.

He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a “quagmire”, continue aggression and delay an end to the “brutal atrocities”.

Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is “not America’s war” and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as “a president who entered a war he doesn’t belong in”.

The US joining Israeli strikes would cause “hell for the whole region”, Iran’s deputy foreign minister has told the BBC.

Israel’s Ministry of Health said 71 people were injured during the attack on the Soroka Medical Centre.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it had targeted Iran’s nuclear sites including the “inactive” Arak heavy water reactor and Natanz facility.

Tehran has not given an update on casualties in Iran from Israeli strikes.

The latest attacks come at a critical time. On Thursday, the White House said Trump would decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the conflict within the next two weeks.

Speaking to the BBC, Khatibzadeh insisted that “of course, diplomacy is the first option”, but said but while bombardment continues “we cannot start any negotiation”.

He repeatedly called Iran’s attacks on Israel “self defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter” and said “we were in the middle of diplomacy” when in a major escalation of the conflict on 13 June, Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, killing several top generals and nuclear scientists.

The deputy foreign minister called the conflict “unprovoked” and “unnecessary”.

Responding to Trump’s repeated comments that the conflict could have been avoided if Iran had accepted a nuclear deal, Khatibzadeh said they were negotiating until Israel “sabotaged” discussions by launching attacks on Iran.

“We were planning to have the sixth round of nuclear talks in Muscat, and we were actually on the verge of reaching an agreement,” he said.

“President Trump knows better than anybody else that we were on the verge of reaching an agreement.”

He also criticised Trump’s “confusing and contradictory” social media posts and interviews, which he said indicated “that Americans have been aware and have participated” in the conflict.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi have reportedly spoken on the phone several times since Friday, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the crisis, Reuters reported.

According to three diplomats who spoke to the news agency and asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, Araqchi said Tehran would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped the attacks.

Israel has alleged Iran has recently “taken steps to weaponise” its enriched uranium stockpile, which can be used for power plants or nuclear bombs. Iran has always claimed that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the UN’s nuclear watchdog – said Iran had amassed enough uranium enriched up to 60% purity – a short technical step away from weapons grade, or 90% – to potentially make nuclear bombs.

“This is nonsense,” Khatibzadeh said in response. “You cannot start a war based on speculation or intention.

“If we wanted to have a nuclear bomb, we would have had it way before.

“Iran has never developed any programme for nuclear weaponisation of peaceful nuclear activities. Bottom line.”

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that nuclear facilities “must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment”.

Khatibzadeh also discussed potential diplomatic channels after a G7 summit in Canada.

He said: “What we are hearing from Europeans is that they would like to get back to diplomacy at a ministerial level”.

“They are going to have a meeting in Geneva and we are very much happy that finally they have to come and talk at the table about the issues at hand.”