The highly controversial organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing food packages in Gaza for over a week. But experts say it cannot be called aid. “Everything points to ethnic cleansing with genocidal methods.”
“This is not aid,” says Thea Hilhorst, professor of Humanitarian Studies, to NU.nl. “You give aid to help people out of compassion. This is just another way of waging war.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said that this type of aid “helps to win the war.”
“We see starving people who have to walk 15 to 20 kilometers for aid for their families,” says associate professor Katharine Fortin. “We see complete chaos of starving people at food aid locations. That a crowd trying to get food is being shot at. And we see that Israel completely ignores humanitarian principles.” Fortin calls the images of recent days “shocking.”
GHF currently has four distribution locations in Gaza, three of which are in the south. That’s far too few, especially when you realize that the UN aid organization UNRWA previously had hundreds of aid points. But Israel has forbidden that aid. “Even if you call this aid, it’s just a drop in the ocean of what’s needed,” Fortin believes.
“It is reminiscent of the earlier humanitarian zones that the Israeli armed forces designated, where it was supposedly safe,” says conflict researcher Erwin van Veen. “This is like a sort of Hunger Games: if you can get through the labyrinth to a food point, you might be sent home with a package that will last you a few days. If you’re unlucky, you’ll be shot.”
The Israeli government is ultimately purely concerned with expelling the Palestinians and with its international reputation, Van Veen thinks. “Israel is not concerned with hundreds of thousands of starving Palestinians. On the contrary: the intention is precisely that they are starved and decide to move, supposedly voluntarily.”
Hilhorst also fears a distraction maneuver that is entirely in the service of the war goals. “Everything Israel does points to ethnic cleansing with genocidal methods. Everything points in that direction.”
Nothing is going well
Is there anything that is going well with the aid from GHF? Experts are clear: no. “It is disastrous with capital letters,” says Van Veen. “There are all signs that the organization is not functioning at all.”
The Middle East expert refers, among other things, to the former GHF boss who stepped down a day before the distribution of aid because of “the lack of humanitarian principles.” “The organization is not only inhumane and with the wrong intentions, it is also not functional.”
According to Van Veen, the operation is so unprofessional that Israel is not even succeeding in limiting the reputational damage. “The outrage naturally only increases when hungry people are shot at who are standing in line for food packages.”
Experts emphasize once again how important it is that other countries increase the pressure on Israel to stop this starvation tactic. “We are not in a situation where we doubt the law,” says Fortin. “We are in a compliance crisis. And that becomes very dangerous if external countries do not speak out explicitly. Silence suggests that it is acceptable for Israel to ignore the law.”
Van Veen acknowledges that. “We are dealing with a completely artificially created situation of famine by Israel,” he believes. “Everything is available to make this situation history, but there is too little pressure on Israel to comply with the obligations of the laws of war. As much pressure as possible must be put on Israel as soon as possible to open the borders for humanitarian aid.”