JNS
“We continue to appeal to everyone to await official notifications before heading to distribution sites,” the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said.
Two distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in southern Gaza closed early on Friday due to overcrowding, the U.S.-backed group said.
The large crowds that had gathered early in the day “are impeding our ability to get all available aid to distribution centers,” the GHF posted on its Facebook page in Arabic.
“We continue to appeal to everyone to await official notifications before heading to distribution sites, in order to enhance safety and ensure that the greatest amount of aid is available,” the statement added.
The two sites are located in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood.
In a separate statement several hours later, the GHF announced that it has distributed almost nine million meals since it began its operations in the Gaza Strip on May 26.
On Friday alone, the group distributed 471,240 meals through 8,160 food parcels, its post read.
The group further noted that it is “working to increase daily quantities and trucks, aiming to reach 4.5 million meals distributed daily.”
The nonprofit asked Gazans not to arrive before official opening hours and to stay clear of the roads before the centers’ gates are opened.
It also asked Palestinians in the war-torn zone to leave the site as quickly as possible after receiving a food package and to allow necessary space for women and the elderly.
Israel had welcomed the arrival of GHF as a means of delivering aid directly to Gazan families, thus preventing Hamas from stealing the majority of the supplies.
The U.N.’s Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee stated on May 30 that “this initiative is an attempt to circumvent the U.N. and its agencies on the ground, foremost UNRWA, that have long delivered humanitarian aid and basic services.”
It further claimed that “GHF fails the test of the humanitarian principles,” and that it was practicing “a policy of deprivation by design.” The U.N. urged Israel to allow UNRWA and other aid groups to reenter Gaza, and it has refused to cooperate with GHF in its effort to supply Gazan families with food.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Friday night that the U.S. State Department is mulling funding the GHF with a budget of $500 million, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials.
The funds, if given, would arrive from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being absorbed by the State Department, Reuters reported, having cited the four unnamed sources.
On Thursday, the GHF reopened the two distribution sites in the southern Strip after temporarily shutting them down for “update, organization and efficiency improvement work” the previous day.
The temporary freeze came after three days of unrest around the distribution sites, where IDF soldiers fired their weapons in the air to control the crowds, and Hamas gunmen fired their weapons to discourage Gazans from receiving aid not under their control.
While Hamas has publicly claimed that 61 people were killed and an additional 295 were wounded, the IDF has stated that these numbers are inflated.
GHF head Johnnie Moore said that “false reporting of violence at our sites has a chilling effect on the local population, and we can think of no greater disservice to a community in dire need.”
