UN Experts Demand 'Immediate Dismantling' of US-Backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

A group of United Nations experts on Tuesday called for the abolition of the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, calling it "an utterly disturbing example" of how aid efforts can be hijacked for military purposes in violation of international law—and with horrific consequences for civilians.

The special rapporteurs demanded the "immediate dismantling" of GHF, which began operating in late May as Israeli forces obstructed U.N. agencies and other organizations attempting to deliver lifesaving food and other necessities to desperate Palestinians. The Trump administration awarded GHF $30 million in June—a sum that the Israeli government has reportedly agreed to match.

"The entanglement of Israeli intelligence, U.S. contractors, and ambiguous non-governmental entities underlines the urgent need for robust international oversight and action under U.N. auspices," the experts said in a joint statement signed by U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri, and dozens of others.

"In this case, we are leaving a state accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in charge of feeding the population affected by the genocide without oversight and with impunity. This overt hypocrisy is disturbing," they continued. "The credibility and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance must be restored by dismantling the GHF, holding it and its executives accountable, and allowing experienced and humanitarian actors from the U.N. and civil society alike to take back the reins of managing and distributing lifesaving aid."

Since late May, Israeli forces have killed more than 850 people near GHF sites, and human rights organizations have accused GHF of both complicity and direct participation in war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza. The GHF system, operated in coordination with the Israeli military, is managed by Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, private U.S. subcontracted firms.

"U.S.-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths," Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, said last week.

The U.N. experts' call for the disbanding of GHF came as U.N. aid agencies separately warned that most of its international NGO partners could be "deregistered" next month under an Israeli government policy that took effect in March, "forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians" as starvation spreads across the enclave.

"Unless urgent action is taken, humanitarian organizations warn that most international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner," the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a statement Wednesday. "Impeding NGOs from participating in the collective humanitarian response violates Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law and comes at a time when we are receiving daily reports of death by starvation as Gaza faces famine conditions."