The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced that it had begun operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
US media said that the organization sent an email after it started “delivering truckloads of food to its Secure Distribution Sites, where distribution to the Gaza people began.”
The GHF released photographs showing Gazans receiving aid in southern Gaza, near the Philadelphi Corridor, which runs along the Egypt-Gaza border. The Washington Post cited two sources who said that a relatively small number of people came to collect the aid. No security incidents were reported.
The operation is guarded by Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), an American security contractor.
The GHF is a Swiss-registered non-profit company that has been touted in both Israel and the US as an alternative to international aid organizations, following fears that humanitarian assistance could fall into the hands of Hamas and other Gazan terrorist organizations.
On the other hand, critics including the United Nations have slammed the operations as possibly compromising humanitarian law and militarizing the aid. CEO for the GHF, Jake Wood, resigned on Sunday, citing his fears that the operations do not live up to “humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence.”
His resignation was followed by the chief operations officer for the company, David Burke, according to report in The Washington Post.
Switzerland is also preparing for a possible investigation into the organization after a complaint that it may not be aligned with international humanitarian and Swiss law.
