‘Deadly’ Gaza Aid Scheme: Over 130 NGOs Urge GHF Shutdown
The organizations said that Palestinians in Gaza “face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families.”
More than 130 humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, have demanded immediate action to shut down the “deadly” US-backed Israeli aid distribution scheme in Gaza.
In less than four weeks, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4,000 injured just trying to access or distribute food in the scheme run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the organizations said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Seeking food aid should never be a death sentence, but this is the reality for people in #Gaza⚠️
Today, 130+ NGOs are calling to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme, return to a UN-led coordination mechanism lift Israel’s blockade on aid➡️ https://t.co/DbAxx0oLby pic.twitter.com/roDD8FunJZ
— Save the Children International (@save_children) July 1, 2025
“Israeli forces and armed groups – some reportedly operating with backing from Israeli authorities – now routinely open fire on desperate civilians risking everything just to survive,” the statement emphasized.
The organizations urged “the existing UN-led coordination mechanisms” to be utilized in the enclave and for Israel’s blockade on aid and commercial supplies to be lifted.
‘Militarized Zones’
They pointed out that the 400 aid distribution points operating during the temporary ceasefire across Gaza “have now been replaced by just four military-controlled distribution sites, forcing two million people into overcrowded, militarized zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to access food and are denied other life-saving supplies.”
41 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza as Aid Death Toll Surpasses 500
“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” they said.
The organizations highlighted that weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme “have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023.”
‘Cycle of Desperation’
The humanitarian system, they stressed, is being “deliberately and systematically dismantled” by Israel’s blockade and restrictions, “a blockade now being used to justify shutting down nearly all other aid operations in favour of a deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs.”
This is an announcement from the American-Israeli “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” stating that aid distribution begins at 2 a.m.—in the dead of night.
But why such an hour?
Because under the cover of darkness, people can be shot, killed, and disappeared—far from cameras, far… pic.twitter.com/LBmOooqGfD— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) July 1, 2025
“These measures are designed to sustain a cycle of desperation, danger, and death. Experienced humanitarian actors remain ready to deliver life-saving assistance at scale,” the organizations said.
Yet more than 100 days since Israeli authorities reimposed a near-total blockade on aid and commercial goods, “Gaza’s humanitarian conditions are collapsing faster than at any point in the past 20 months,” they added.
At least 66 children have died of malnutrition in Gaza due to the blockade, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
Disregard for International Law
The organizations pointed out that under Israel’s scheme “starved and weakened civilians” are being forced to trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race to reach fenced, militarized distribution sites with a single entry point.
“There, thousands are released into chaotic enclosures to fight for limited food supplies,” they said, adding that these areas “have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law.”
Gaza: Bureaucratizing Genocide, Administering Hunger through Aid
“With Gaza’s healthcare system in ruins, many of those shot are left to bleed out alone, beyond the reach of ambulances and denied lifesaving medical care,” the organizations added.
Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families “are now too weak to compete for food rations.”
‘Not a Humanitarian Response’
With fuel nearly depleted, critical lifesaving services – including bakeries, water systems, ambulances, and hospitals – have been brought to a standstill, they said.
“This is not a humanitarian response,” the organizations stated, adding that the concentrating more than two million people “into further confined areas for a chance to feed their families is not a plan to save lives.”
It’s real.. He was starved by Israeli occupation to death in Gaza! pic.twitter.com/q7tDfT01sX
— Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) July 1, 2025
They pointed out that the Sphere Association, which sets minimum standards for quality humanitarian aid, has warned that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s approach “does not adhere to core humanitarian standards and principles.”
‘Normalization of Suffering’
The organizations said this “normalization of suffering must not be allowed to stand” and called on governments to take concrete measures to end “the suffocating siege” and uphold the right of civilians in Gaza to safely access aid and receive protection.
Israel’s ‘Militarized’ Gaza Aid Plan Constitutes a ‘War Crime’ – UN OHCHR
They also urged donors “not to fund militarized aid schemes that violate international law, do not adhere to humanitarian principles, deepen harm, and risk complicity in atrocities.”
In addition, they urged the restoration of “a unified, UN-led coordination mechanism—grounded in international humanitarian law and inclusive of UNRWA, Palestinian civil society, and the wider humanitarian community—to meet people’s needs.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)