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Johnnie Moore, an evangelical leader and businessman, has been appointed head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US and Israeli-backed provider of aid to Gaza, the organisation said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mr Moore, an adviser to US President Donald Trump on interfaith issues, replaces Jake Wood, who left the top position at the foundation last week. Mr Wood said in a statement that he felt compelled to leave after determining the organisation could not fulfil its mission.
“GHF believes that serving the people of Gaza with dignity and compassion must be the top priority," he said in a statement.
Mr Moore is the founder and chief executive of the boutique communications consultancy Kairos Company and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders. He has been active in interfaith dialogue, and was involved in the drafting of the 2017 Bahrain Declaration on Religious Freedom and Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East.
According to his biography on the Kairos website, Mr Moore is a "noted evangelical friend" of Israel and has met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as various Palestinian government and civil society leaders. He also played "a significant role" in the development of the Abraham Accords, the biography says.
John Acree, the acting director of the GHF, said Mr Moore has "a proven record of principled leadership and hands-on humanitarian work".
Mr Moore has praised the GHF on social media since its foundation, most recently lauding it for the development of a "women only" lane at aid distribution sites. He also posted on X that he had "several really encouraging meetings" with the International Committee of the Red Cross, although they do not "always see eye to eye". In another post, he called reports of violence at GHF-run aid distribution sites a lie "spread by terrorists".
There have been several reports of violence at distribution sites in the days since the GHF began operations. On Tuesday, 27 people were killed and 90 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire in the area, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military said on social media it had fired shots near an aid distribution complex after "identifying a number of suspects moving towards forces". Both Israel and the US have denied or played down reports of violence.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that: "Palestinians have the fundamental right to adequate food and to be free from hunger."
Mr Moore said: “We welcome others to join us and urge extreme caution against sharing unverified information from sources that have repeatedly issued demonstrably false reports."
On social media, he has drawn a connection between the so-called false reports and anti-Semitic violence in the US, particularly an attack on a Jewish group gathered in a park in Colorado.
The National has contacted Mr Moore for comment.
In response to a question from The National on the recent violence, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the GHF and its operations.
"These people were desperate to starving, and the President didn't like seeing imagery of that, and he wanted to ensure that aid was brought in with the approval of Israel, for understandable reasons," she said. "This is something that the previous administration was unwilling to put the time and effort into doing."
The GHF has faced criticism from the UN and humanitarian groups that have traditionally operated in the enclave.
Meanwhile, a leading US consulting firm reportedly pulled out of the GHF last week. The Washington Post said that Boston Consulting Group had been hired last autumn to help design the programme and run its business operations, but that it withdrew its team operating in Tel Aviv on Friday.
A representative said the company had terminated its contract with the GHF and placed a senior partner on the project on leave, pending an internal review. The representative added that all the firm's work with the foundation was "pro bono". Boston Consulting Group set the prices for paying and equipping contractors associated with the foundation working to distribute aid in southern Gaza, the Post said.
Adla Massoud contributed to this report from the UN
