Why Israel’s chaotic new food program in Gaza has turned so deadly

A visit to one distribution site shows how a system designed to squeeze out the UN and Hamas continues to draw hungry Palestinians into deadly encounters.

Palestinians carry away relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip in June. Picture: Eyad Baba / AFP

Thousands of hungry Palestinians amassed last Tuesday morning outside a barbed-wire fence surrounding the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid centre at Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The moment the gates cracked open, the crowd surged forward.

American security contractors tried to keep control, but scores of men pushed through barricades and snatched boxes of food awaiting distribution. Others sprinted in behind them. Men on speeding motorcycles raced past the pedestrians to grab whatever food they could. Gunshots rang out – it wasn’t clear from where. Within about 15 minutes, all the food was gone.

Chaotic scenes like that one, witnessed by a Wall Street Journal reporter, have plagued the new food-distribution system run by the Israeli-backed foundation known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Since the program began two months ago, hundreds of people have died and hundreds more have been wounded trying to get food from the four GHF sites, according to local health authorities. Israel’s military acknowledges opening fire on crowds that come too close to its troops.

As the death toll has climbed, the United Nations, many humanitarian organisations and more than 20 governments have condemned the new approach, which supplanted a much larger UN effort. Israel said the new system is intended to prevent Hamas from diverting aid to fuel its operations.

Anyone who hasn’t witnessed the scene on the ground here might wonder how such violence could result from a food-distribution operation. The Journal’s observation of one morning’s distribution effort – from when it kicked off to when it was overrun – reveals some reasons why the setup has been so beset with problems.

For starters, GHF relies on the Israeli military nearby to provide security and keep its workers safe, which brings sometimes desperate Palestinian crowds into close proximity with troops. The UN’s food-distribution points, by contrast, didn’t usually have Israeli troops nearby.

A second big problem is that the demand for food far outstrips GHF’s current capacity, resulting in overwhelming numbers of people fighting to get their hands on scarce rations.

Children gather for food at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution point in Nuseirat. Picture: AFP

Aid-related violence also has broken out far from GHF sites.

On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded as they sought aid passing into northern Gaza from Israel, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military said thousands of Gazans had gathered in the north of the Strip, and it fired “warning shots” to remove a threat posed to soldiers. The military disputed the casualty numbers reported by Gazan authorities.

There were no reported casualties at the GHF site on the outskirts of Khan Younis the day the Journal visited. GHF said its post-operation report for that Tuesday didn’t show any shooting by its security contractors, though shots are audible on a video taken by the Journal. Israeli soldiers weren’t present at the site itself, though there was a tank nearby.

But the next day – last Wednesday – at least 20 people were killed in a crush at the site, according to health authorities and GHF. GHF said its security contractors had pepper-sprayed people rushing the site that day.

Ahmad Tareq al-Dahoudi was one of those trying to get food that day. “I couldn’t breathe from the smell,” he recalled. “I didn’t get anything and ran away. There were lots of children, women and elderly people. I saw about 15 dead bodies.”

Israel Ziv, a retired Israeli general who once headed Israel’s Gaza division, said: “The area is not stable, it’s under chaos. The threat of starvation under those conditions is so severe that there’s no way you can create a stable system in unstable surroundings.”

Gunfire threat

Israeli soldiers interviewed by the Journal said they have fired rifles, machine guns and even artillery when crowds veered off approved routes to GHF sites or took short cuts. Soldiers said shots are fired around crowds to ward them off, but also at times directly at people who move in their direction.

Israel’s military said it tries to avoid using gunfire and reviews each incident to learn from them to reduce harm. Israeli military officials said troops have caused deaths, but some said that Palestinian authorities’ numbers are inflated.

One Israeli reservist said in an interview he saw soldiers firing toward Gazans carrying white flags who veered off an approved route in mid-June. “We have an unwritten rule that if you are worried and they get too close and you see that it could be something that puts you and your team at risk, you don’t take that risk,” he said.

He said soldiers warned people not to come closer, but they continued. Once the crowds passed what the soldiers considered a red line, the soldiers opened fire. They are told to fire warning shots in the air or to shoot at people’s knees, but mistakes happen, he said.

A GHF spokesperson said it has repeatedly asked the Israeli military to improve the safety of access routes to the sites, and that in recent weeks the military has taken steps to do so.

Last month, the military said it would change the way it operates and add signs and fencing in hopes of “minimising friction with the population.” During the Journal’s visit to the site outside Khan Younis – a trip organised by Israel’s military – none of that was evident, and troops made no effort to control crowds.

“Every day, our team shows up to do one thing: feed the people of Gaza,” GHF said in a written statement.

“GHF is currently the only organisation consistently delivering food to civilians in Gaza, and the heavy crowds at our distribution sites reflect that reality.”

Previously, food had been amassed by the UN and private charities and distributed primarily by the UN at about 400 sites in population centres around Gaza. The UN still brings in some food, but much less than before.

American security contractors watch over a GHF aid centre in central Gaza. Picture: AFP

The new aid plan was designed by a group of about a dozen Israeli reservists and businessmen who began meeting as early as December 2023 in an effort to sideline the UN, according to people who took part in the discussions. It got a green light when a new defence minister, Israel Katz, was appointed and President Trump was elected in the US, a former senior military officer who helped design the plan said.

Before the launch, some Israelis familiar with the plan warned senior officials the plan didn’t include enough sites and they weren’t located properly, raising the potential for dangerous overcrowding and violence, according to documents reviewed by the Journal and one of the people who raised concerns.

GHF, the foundation that runs the program, was incorporated in Delaware in February and currently is led by Johnnie Moore, an American businessman, evangelical Christian leader and former Trump campaign adviser. GHF has contracted Safe Reach Solutions, established in Wyoming in November, to provide security for the sites.

It isn’t clear how the program has been funded. Some countries and many humanitarian organisations have refused to work with it, crimping sources of international help. The US State Department approved $US30m ($46m) for GHF in June, but it has yet to be disbursed, a department spokesperson said.

Israel launched the program after blocking food shipments into Gaza for 11 weeks, an embargo that ran down stockpiles and led to widespread concern about starvation. GHF operates mainly in southern Gaza and is meant to serve around one million people.

Israel hopes to deprive Hamas of a source of income. But Israel doesn’t know who is actually picking up the aid at its sites, and the restrictions it has put on food supplies is deepening its international isolation.

The European Union has threatened to downgrade relations with Israel, largely over humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have been accused in the International Criminal Court of using starvation as a weapon.

The plan has become a public-relations disaster for international firms that advised on the project, including the Boston Consulting Group, which fired partners who worked on it. GHF’s previous executive director, Jake Wood, a US military veteran, quit just before the project launched.

Hunger crisis

The entire population of Gaza faces shortages of food. The UN Relief and Works Agency said 10 per cent of children screened at its sites were malnourished, and the World Food Program said tens of thousands need treatment related to malnourishment.

GHF said its food boxes include things like flour, pasta, sugar, rice, cooking oil, beans, tuna, tea, cookies and potatoes. Palestinians said the handouts vary by the day and typically don’t contain nutrients such as animal protein.

Jameel al-Nahhal, a 21-year-old from Rafah who has sought food at GHF sites, said if he is lucky he comes away with flour, lentils and cooking oil. “The crowds are huge, and the quantities are tiny,” he said. “I am responsible for my father, mother and sisters. The amount I bring back lasts a day or two, at most.”

Israel has said it plans to expand the number of distribution sites, but hasn’t said when or where.

GHF’s four sites aren’t always open, and it can be hard for Palestinians to know which ones will have food. The operators try to control the crowds with fences and gates, but distribution is typically disorderly, and supplies vanish quickly, leading to melees.

On the program’s first day, tens of thousands of Gazans overran the Khan Younis site, flooding through a small opening after the gate collapsed and forcing the roughly 40 people working as security contractors on site to retreat.

They stripped the site of everything, including fencing, lightbulbs and a generator, as the Israeli military and US contractors watched from a shared situation room.

The Wall Street Journal