Israel began allowing ‘teaspoons’ of aid into Gaza this week following a suffocating 11-week siege. [Getty]
Israel’s drive to overhaul relief efforts in Gaza is running into significant problems, with insiders expressing doubts about its feasibility and worrying about the optics of militarising humanitarian aid, according to The Washington Post.
Internal planning in the murky organisation set to take control of aid delivery in the Strip – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – has been beset with uncertainty, while divisions have surfaced in the Israeli military amid confusion about its objectives, sources tell the newspaper.
The Netanyahu government had planned to begin imposing the new system this week but has been forced to push back the date amid what has reportedly been a “rushed and chaotic” rollout.
Drawn up by Israeli officials in November and approved by ministers this month, the plan will hand responsibility for the humanitarian effort to the GHF, which will work alongside the Israeli military and American mercenaries.
The hundreds of aid distribution hubs currently operated by relief agencies will be shrunk to just four GHF-run centres. Each of them will be situated in the south of the strip, forcing Palestinians in the north to leave.
Internal documents seen by The Washington Post show that biometric technology will be deployed at the hubs, handing the Israeli military power to choose who is allowed to receive aid.
There are plans to construct guarded “humanitarian transition areas”, where tens of thousands of Palestinians will be held. Planners anticipate these zones to be described as “concentration camps” by the public, the documents show.
Five people involved in the planning expressed concern about the militarisation of aid, and the use of mercenary forces and biometrics to police civilians.
The scheme has triggered outcry among some of Israel’s closest Western allies and humanitarian organisations, who have refused to cooperate with a plan that they say violates basic humanitarian principles.
The UN has warned that the policy has been designed to facilitate the mass displacement of Palestinians, an accusation effectively confirmed by Israeli ministers who have publicly articulated plans to drive the entire population to the south and force them out of Gaza.
Israel has justified the plan by claiming that Hamas is stealing aid to finance its operations. It has never provided evidence for its claims.
Officials have also framed it as a humanitarian initiative to help Palestinian civilians, who are threatened with mass starvation due to Israel’s suffocating 11-week blockade. Authorities this week began allowing the entry of some aid in amounts described by the UN secretary-general as a “teaspoon”.
The ongoing blockade and aid restrictions in Gaza have pushed the population to the brink of famine.
According to the WHO, dozens of children have died from malnutrition, and hospitals are overwhelmed. The UN warns that 500–600 aid trucks are needed daily. Aid agencies say the crisis is worsening by the day, with over 70,000 children now at risk of acute malnutrition.
The refusal of aid agencies to cooperate with the scheme has reportedly left the organisation without a plan to distribute the necessary amount of aid.
Red flags about the organisation’s capacity were raised earlier this month after a leaked memo revealed that it plans to provide food to only 60% of the population initially.
How the GHF will be funded remains unclear. The UAE – one of the key backers named in the planning documents – has refused to participate. Other potential donors such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Germany have signed a statement criticising the plan.
A GHF spokesperson said the organisation had received a $100 million donation but declined to disclose the donor’s identity.
The organisation also appears to still be without a director. David Beasley, a former head of the World Food Programme, was reported to be in discussions for the position, but according to The Washington Post is reluctant to get involved due to the many unanswered questions about the operation.
The confusion about how the scheme will function also extends to the top of the Israeli military itself, which has been deeply divided about the government’s intent to occupy the whole of Gaza.
Eyal Zamir, the IDF’s chief of staff, admitted just two weeks ago in private conversations that he did not understand how the military will work with the mercenary forces on the ground, according to the newspaper.
Some officers have reportedly expressed opposition to the plan and want the current UN-led humanitarian system to remain in place.
“It’s not going to work,” said a former chief of Israeli military intelligence with knowledge of the plans.
“Set aside the humanitarian issues, the moral issues, simply the logistics of transferring people to a permanent location – it’s a huge transfer of people who have already been moved once.”
