US confirms plan for private firms to deliver Gaza aid despite UN alarm

[Twiglets1]

The US has confirmed that a new system for providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza through private companies is being prepared, as Israel's blockade continues for a third month.

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said "distribution centres" protected by security contractors would provide food and other supplies to over a million people initially, as part of an effort to prevent Hamas stealing aid.

He denied Israel would take part in aid delivery or distribution, but said its forces would secure the centres' perimeters.

It comes as details emerged about the controversial plan, which UN agencies have reiterated they will not co-operate with because it appears to "weaponize" aid.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp92rlm300mo

And funnelling 2 million starving desperate people into 4 sites in a 12 hour period (otherwise it's a combat zone)is also not exactly what you call strategic thinking.

It's almost like they haven't a fuckin clue what they are doing.(Or are sabotaging it)

I completely disagree with you. Providing access to humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in a war zone is a requirement under international humanitarian law. Keeping civilians safe while they access it is part of it.

The GHF cannot dictate to the IDF what their rules are.
Well I'd like to think they are collaborating on how to ensure aid gets to civilians safely. If they're not no wonder it's a mess.

It’s not victim blaming to say people need to follow the rules to stay safe.
It is if the rules are unworkable. I'm not going round in circles on this with you. We fundamentally disagree on the situation so we'll leave it at that. As @Whatsinanamehey has said I'm yet to see anyone who has experience in this area to say anything other than it is a mess and not acceptable.

Yes let’s stop going round in circles @ComeAsYouAreAsAFriend

Exactly - the channel 4 interview when the Israeli government spokesperson was asked what constitutes a threat and he got hostile with the interviewer and evaded the question was telling. Unarmed civilians, women and children are threatening to a heavily armed group of soldiers backed by quadcopters and tanks. Honestly, it’s like a work of fiction.

Quite interestingly if anyone watches Andor there is a great speech in it by a senator about a genocide that has orchestrated in a way to blame terrorists for everyone’s deaths because the empire want the land. A lot of people wrongly assume the fictional Ghorman is based on the current situation in Gaza because of the parallels - the deliberate manipulation of the truth, killing civilians and blaming it on terrorists (that they actually armed in the first place) and even the way during the genocide they lock everyone into a small space with no escape. Apparently the episode was written two years ago but it was obviously influenced by the way truth is manipulated in the modern era and how war crimes can be justified if you find the right spin.

An extract from the speech:

“The distance between what is said today and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest.”

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/apr/24/andor-star-wars-parallel-gaza-israel-palestine

Watching it I could not help thinking how much this fictional story and speech resonate with the situation today. Total divergence I know but sometimes arts and fiction reflect the current climate so well it is shocking. Another slight divergence for anyone interested in poetry, The War Horse by Eavan Boland which was written about the troubles in Northern Ireland could definitely be read as some people’s attitudes to Gaza, particularly in Israel.

Extract from The War Horse by Eavan Boland

“You might say, only a crocus, its bulbous head
Blown from growth, one of the screamless dead.

But we, we are safe, our unformed fear
Of fierce commitment gone; why should we care

If a rose, a hedge, a crocus are uprooted
Like corpses, remote, crushed, mutilated?

He stumbles on like a rumour of war, huge
Threatening. Neighbours use the subterfuge

Of curtains. He stumbles down our short street
Thankfully passing us. I pause, wait,

Then to breathe relief lean on the sill
And for a second only my blood is still

With atavism. That rose he smashed frays
Ribboned across our hedge, recalling days

Of burned countryside, illicit braid:
A cause ruined before, a world betrayed.”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43150/the-war-horse

@RandomWordsThrownTogether
Beautiful thought provoking poem.

”Exactly - the channel 4 interview when the Israeli government spokesperson was asked what constitutes a threat and he got hostile with the interviewer and evaded the question was telling. Unarmed civilians, women and children are threatening to a heavily armed group of soldiers backed by quadcopters and tanks. Honestly, it’s like a work of fiction.”

I have wondered about this.
Those defending the IDF have spoken about the risks of fighting in an urban environment - but the distribution sites are in an open areas already cleared by the IDF. We have all seen evidence of the way Palestinians are dehumanised and stereotyped (they are all Hamas) which probably does contribute to way war is being aggressively fought. But I also worry about the soldiers. How traumatised are they after what they have seen and done in Gaza? Does this influence how they respond? People with PTSD have an increased startle response and may sense neutral events as a threat.

Reservists have been called up on a number of occasions over the last 600 days and attendance rate has fallen to 60% (some see the war as now only politically motivated). Their moral seems to have fallen and it must be a struggle to balance home and war front.

I know that the Palestinians are the ones that are being killed and facing the repercussions of this- but I do feel some pity for the soldiers and how they will come to terms with this war.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/experts-warn-of-mental-health-crisis-among-idf-personnel-ahead-of-memorial-days/amp/

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250416-israeli-army-faces-growing-dissent-i-will-never-again-serve-under-this-government

Times of Israel: Gaza aid group says Hamas threats to staff kept distribution hubs closed on Saturday

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that it was unable to open its aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip on Saturday due to threats from Hamas, in the latest disruption to the aid group’s operations as it struggles to get off the ground.

The statement did not provide further information on the terror group’s threats, but a GHF spokesperson said they were directed at the foundation’s drivers and at local Palestinian staff helping operate the distribution sites.

It marked the fourth time in the past week that GHF operations were disrupted, and the second time it kept its centers shuttered altogether, although previous work stoppages were due to overcrowding and mass casualty incidents — allegedly from Israeli fire — rather than due to Hamas threats.

“Hamas is the reason hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans were not fed today,” GHF said in its statement announcing Saturday’s closures.
“The group issued direct threats against GHF operations. These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,” it added.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-aid-group-says-hamas-threats-to-staff-kept-distribution-hubs-closed-on-saturday/

From the same article:

Though the UN has continued to distribute aid in the Strip while GHF finds its footing, it has complained that it has been unable to deliver much of its own humanitarian supplies due to IDF restrictions on movements and because roads that the military designates for its trucks to use are unsafe and vulnerable to looters.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-aid-group-says-hamas-threats-to-staff-kept-distribution-hubs-closed-on-saturday/

At least 4 more starving people were murdered by the IDF on their way to collect Aid on Sunday. People were told by the IDF to come and get aid, that there was a window for safe passage, and then shot on their way. No wonder the injured call the aid distribution system a “trap” time and time again. At least 110 people have been killed and over 1000 injured by the IDF on their way to Aid sites in less than two weeks.

“The Reuters news agency reported that four people had been killed by the Israeli fire, while the Associated Press put the death toll at “at least” five.

The deaths bring the number of people who have been killed while trying to find food in Gaza since 27 May, when GHF became responsible for civilian food provision, to 110. More than 1,000 have been injured.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/08/shooting-rafah-gaza-food-distribution-point-ghf

The small amount of aid on offer, their location in a militarised zone, the arming by Israel of the violent criminal gangs that are looting makes the term “trap” so true and yet it doesn’t go far enough. Israel cut off aid and deliberately starved the population for over two months to the point they were verging on famine and then started to allow in a tiny amount that will only reach 13% of the population, made it a first come first serve basis where people have to run and fight to get it and simultaneously they are giving guns to known criminals and gangs. They are manufacturing a storm in a tea cup - pushing people to a point of desperation so that they have to fight for resources, so that they kill each other over the tiny scraps of food while Israeli drones hover overhead filming and saying “look they are doing it to themselves”. The video they shared of Hamas shooting and looting ended up being a gang that they armed and then filmed attacking people without intervening. These deaths will not be attributed to the IDF though they created the conditions where their choice is to starve or fight. It is sick.

https://www.channel4.com/news/how-israels-gaza-aid-plan-led-to-mass-killing

New text reveals Hamas threats to aid workers, warning of 'severe consequences'

The threat came after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced it had distributed over 1 million meals across the Gaza Strip Sunday.

New text reveals Hamas's threats to aid workers operating in Gaza, saying that those who continue to partner with Israel's aid distribution will face severe consequences, Ynet published on Sunday.
“We are fully aware of everything you are doing, and all your movements are being monitored with extreme precision. You will not be forgiven for your involvement in projects that harm the dignity of our people and serve suspicious agendas under the guise of humanitarian work,” the message read.

“This is your final warning: Continuing down this path will have severe consequences, and you will bear full responsibility for the outcomes of your actions. Stop now, or else.”

A joint statement circulating across Palestinian Telegram channels, signed by the ‘Palestinian Resistance Factions,’ also condemned the continuation of the aid centers.

“The main goal of the so-called American aid distribution centers is to end UNRWA's mission and liquidate the Palestinian cause as a political issue, transforming it into a relief and humanitarian one,” the statement, circulating across Palestinian Telegram channels, said.

The group called on the international community, primarily Arab organizations and the United Nations, to pressure Israel and the United States to hand over aid distribution to the UN.

“We warn all our people against being lured by any false promises from the Zionist occupation or its mercenaries, agents, and thieves,” the groups wrote, adding that all resistance security forces had “full authority and authorization” to strike anyone who responded to enemy plans.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-857005

I don’t think it was “the plan” to actually kill people who are seeking aid. It just seems like the IDF operate with a loose understanding of international law (to say the least) and kill people indiscriminately generally. So they can’t handle these relief hubs.

It just seems counter productive for the Israeli administration’s goals here. The purpose of the GHF was to forcibly move people and provide enough of a trickle of aid to stop images of famine being streamed around the world. But now we have a system that doesn’t function at all.

If they killed people indiscriminately as you allege, explain the civilian to combatant death ratio which has been reported by military experts as the lowest recorded in the history of urban warfare?

Do you know better than them how warfare works?

Do you not think Hamas has anything to do with discrediting the relief hubs despite Gazan civilians saying so themselves that they are shooting at people using them and Hamas issuing threats against people who use them?

So firstly I think we need to accept that the civilian to combatant ratio is hotly contested. The certainties that we have at the moment is that a large and growing number of governments and independent observers consider Israel to be committing indiscriminate attacks on civilians. So this isn’t about me thinking I know more than individual military experts.

Yes I completely agree that Hamas are trying to discredit the relief hubs. It is only Israel and the US that have been fully supportive of the GHF. So Hamas and the wider international community seem to agree on one thing, that the foundation doesn’t meet core humanitarian principles. I

Are you aware that the violent criminal gangs armed by Israel who have been attacking civilians and looting are actually employed by the aid distribution centres! It was on Channel 4 news. I assume the message is directed at them (though I know Hamas have form for attacking civilians).

Netanyahu has admitted employing them.

They are not being employed by the aid distribution centres.

Are you saying that hamas are worried about core humanitarian principles now?Marvellous!

Perhaps they can release the hostages, lay down their arms and fuck off out of Gaza, that would be a humanitarian thing to do.

I completely agree with you. I do not support Hamas or any terrorist group. I’m merely stating a fact there.

It is another new revelation, since the gang said in a statement a few days ago they were employed at the centre is has now turned out they are actually employed there. It was on the Channel 4 news if you go to around 2:49 on the video

https://www.channel4.com/news/no-end-to-suffering-in-gaza-as-israeli-airstrikes-continue

I’ve also read that its membership has doubled in the last week because the gang members are being paid and being given guns. Starve to death or join an armed gang.

Hotly contested by whom?

If you have any links, I’d be happy to read them?

I like to research through various and opposing sources of information before having an opinion as I’m sure you do.

That report does not say the gang is being employed by the aid distribution centres.

They are employed by Netanyahu and the report says some are now working alongside the GHF at the aid distribution centre.

But they are still employed by Netanyahu who then tells them where to work which could be at the aid distribution centre one day and another location on another day.

I stopped at the point the narrator, who obviously was reporting from film received from Gaza, stated there were more than ‘54,000 victims’ including terrorist members and operatives, and those civilians who took part in Oct 7th, who Israel has targeted as ‘victims’. The story rather lacked credibility after that.

Maybe the ‘gang’ membership is increasing as people want to rise up against Hamas.

I’m sure it’s evident to Gazans right now, and for a while before, that Hamas has not got their best interests at heart.

Let’s hope they can lead the IDF to the hostages.

I won’t waste my time. It is disingenuous to say you don’t realise this. Nobody could be so blinkered.

I did watch it and it showed a distraught local person crying “May God punish you … I pray you are killed too” about a Hamas leader, so hopefully that sentiment is growing in Gaza.

You are incorrect though. Israel are doing a great job on keeping civilian casualties to a minimum.

It’s a war. Hamas could have ended it at any moment by surrendering. They have known all along there is no way they could win. They are driven by hatred of Jews.
They care less about the casualty rate of normal Gazans than Israel does.

So that is your opinion. But what I said is a fact.

That the civilian to combatant ratio is hotly contested. This is a fact so I can’t see how it can be wrong.

My opinion is a different thing altogether.

But honestly. Even from a purely Israeli point of view, is it a good idea for Netanyahu/GHF to be employing some armed group?

It sounds like a very dangerous game - again even if you only look at it from Israel’s standpoint.