170 charities and NGOs call for U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza aid distribution to be shut down
Calling the humanitarian aid distribution centers for “death traps”, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that 583 people had died since the start of the GHF to operate in Gaza in late May following a three -month Israeli blockade on aid distribution.
Since then, there have been almost daily claims of the Israeli army deliberately drawing beneficiaries of aid, accusations that the FDI denied. The United Nations condemned the GHF aid system, Secretary General António Guterres, calling “intrinsically dangerous”.
Refuting complaints on Tuesday in a statement to NBC News, GHF said that it “provided millions of meals every day directly to the Palestinian people who deserved and needed help”.
“Instead of bickering and launching insults from the sidelines, we would welcome other humanitarian groups to join us and feed people in Gaza,” he added.
Israel, who defended GHF by saying that he provided direct assistance to the Palestinians while circumventing interference from Hamas, said in a statement on Monday that he “examined” the injured civilians on help sites and would add new fences and sign the publication to improve access.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry accused Hamas on Tuesday of having shot civilians on humanitarian sites and to falsely blame the FDI to “disrupt the efforts to help and keep the inhabitants of Gaza from the essential aid”, according to a position on X.
This decision comes when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should meet President Donald Trump in Washington early next week, a White House official at NBC News confirmed, while the pressure to end the war in Gaza is intensifying.
“I have to leave next week for meetings in the United States with President Trump,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “These things come in the wake of the great victory that we have achieved in the” rising lion, “he added, referring to the recent military assault of Israel against Iran.
The Israeli chief added that with Trump, he would also meet other senior American officials, including vice-president JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff. “We have a few things to close before that in order to achieve trade agreement in addition to other things,” he said.
Trump also said on Tuesday that he would discuss the situation in Gaza with Netanyahu during the next visit.
The president in a previous article on Truth Social on Saturday said Netanyahu was “at the moment negotiating an agreement with Hamas, which will include the restoration of hostages”. On Sunday, he once again urged the two parties to progress in the cease-fire talks in a standstill. “Agree in Gaza. Get the hostages back !!!” Trump wrote in a separate article.
A two-month-old ceasefire collated in March after Israel renewed his military assault against Gaza and imposed a blockade of total aid for 11 weeks. Hundreds of aid distribution points across Gaza led by the UN were then reduced to four sites operated by the GHF, where fatal incidents were reported almost daily.
The Israeli army recognizes participation in many of these incidents, often claiming that soldiers are caughting or against people who seem to be a threat or are in unauthorized areas. GHF says that attacks occur outside its distribution sites.
