The head of a U.N. inquiry into human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories on Wednesday denounced the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), calling its role in distributing aid in the besieged enclave “outrageous” and warning it is contributing to civilian deaths.
Navi Pillay, chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, criticized the foundation’s operations during a news conference, highlighting its close links to the U.S. government and its impact on aid-seeking civilians.
“In every war, siege and starvation surely lead to death,” said Pillay, a former U.N. human rights chief. “But this initiative of what's called a foundation — a private foundation — to supply food is what I see as outrageous, because it involves the United States itself, the government. And it turns out, as we watch daily, that people who go to those centers are being killed as they seek food.”
GHF began distributing aid on May 26, after Israel cut off supply routes into Gaza for over two months, prompting warnings of mass famine. The effort, labeled private and opaque in its funding structure, has drawn criticism from international humanitarian organizations, which declined to cooperate over concerns that the foundation serves Israeli military objectives.
