GHF sends letter to UN chief requesting partnership through its aid delivery model

Johnnie Moore says UN relies on system that has allowed 'mass diversion, looting and manipulation of humanitarian flows'

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  Displaced Gazans wait for aid as armed Palestinian groups claiming to be preventing theft gather around a UN vehicle accompanying aid lorries at the Israeli-controlled Zikim crossing west of Beit Lahia on Wednesday. Smoke from Israeli strikes rises in the background. AFP

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  The armed men guard aid lorries at the crossing. AFP

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  The armed groups sit on top of aid lorries. EPA

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  A UN vehicle accompanying the lorries. AFP

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  People carrying aid parcels the Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on the Salah Al Din road near the Nusseirat refugee camp on Wednesday. AFP

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  Palestinians gather at the GHF aid distribution point. AFP

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  Thousands of Palestinians queued at the GHF location on Wednesday. AFP

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  The supply of aid into Gaza has been acutely limited due to an Israeli blockade. AFP

The head of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has sent a letter to the UN Secretary General requesting collaboration to deliver food to Palestinians in the war-torn coastal enclave.

"The time has come to confront, without euphemism or delay, the structural failure of aid delivery in Gaza, and to course-correct decisively," Johnnie Moore, director of the GHF, said in the letter that was sent on Monday.

Israel eased a months-long blockade on Gaza last month, but it has allowed only a limited amount of humanitarian aid into the enclave by way of the UN and the newly established GHF – a controversial US and Israeli-backed private organisation that is overhauling aid distribution.

Gaza’s 2.3 million people face widespread hunger, with many having been displaced several times by the conflict.

Mr Moore said the UN relies on "existing infrastructure", which has allowed for the "mass diversion, looting and the manipulation of humanitarian flows" by Hamas and other groups.

The US and Israel have long accused Hamas of looting food and supplies meant for hungry Gazans. The GHF has founded sites around the enclave that are secured by a private security force meant to prevent looting.

"The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has built and demonstrated an alternative model that is highly effective," he wrote, saying that the organisation has distributed more than 40 million meals.

"Despite operating under grave threat, GHF has succeeded in surging emergency food aid directly to Palestinians in desperate need, bypassing intermediaries and restoring the the integrity of humanitarian action."

Mr Moore called on the UN to engage "immediately and directly" with the GHF to deliver food without the use of "intermediaries, but through a model that has already proven its capacity to reach those in need".

Gaza's aid centre chaos laid bare

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The GHF has drawn criticism for circumventing the UN and other aid agencies, which say it does not follow humanitarian principles.

In addition, the UN human rights office reported on Tuesday that more than 400 people have been killed while trying to access aid at the sites, most of them by Israeli fire.

Israel and the GHF have denied reports of widespread violence. Mr Moore blamed a disinformation campaign that has "sought to stop us from feeding people from the moment we started", adding that the UN has fallen victim to false reports.

He wrote that the GHF has also been attacked by Hamas and other groups. This month, at least five people on a GHF bus carrying more than two dozen local Palestinians working with the initiative were killed and several injured, according to the organisation.

Mr Moore called on the UN to condemn attacks on humanitarian workers in Gaza and denounce the obstruction of aid by Hamas.

US President Donald Trump's administration has authorised $30 million to be given to the GHF, according to reports.

A document reviewed by Reuters showed that the $30 million US Agency for International Development grant was authorised on Friday under a "priority directive" from the White House and State Department.