The controversial aid organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distributed the first food packages in southern Gaza on Tuesday. The aid was actually supposed to start on Monday, but that was not possible due to logistical and operational problems.
The Israeli Channel 12 reports that aid packages have been distributed at two distribution locations in the southern city of Rafah. The Israeli army and COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with Palestinian civil affairs, confirm this.
The boxes contain pasta, flour, sunflower oil, chickpeas, white beans, tea and biscuits. The Times of Israel also writes that aid by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has really started.
It is not known how many food packages will be distributed on Tuesday. Around 2.30 pm (local time), according to ynet, about four hundred boxes had been collected.
The GHF tells Israeli media that the aid will be increased in the coming days. The foundation stated on Monday that the aid would have reached more than a million Palestinians by the end of the week – almost half of the total population of Gaza.
Much criticism of aid plan
The UN and international aid organizations are critical of the aid plan, because civilians could end up in the line of fire on their way to the centers. The road to it could also be an insurmountable obstacle for the elderly and sick. GHF director Jake Wood resigned on Sunday because he believed the aid plan could not be implemented in compliance with humanitarian principles.
Many aid organizations refuse to cooperate with the GHF. Organizations that do, according to the foundation, are threatened by Hamas.