The head of a controversial US and the Israeli-backed support group has defended his work after repeated incidents of killings and injuries of Palestinians.
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) boss Johnny Moore told the BBC World Service’s Newshore that he was not denying death near the assistance places, but said “100% of those casualties were being held responsible for close proximity to GHF” and it was “truth”.
He accused the United Nations and other international organizations of spreading information that they could not verify.
GHF aid system is condemned by United Nations AgenciesAnd on Friday, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Gutres branded it “naturally unsafe”.
The United Nations chief said, “Any operation that desperate citizens in militant areas is naturally insecure. Food discovery should never be punished.”
The Hamas-Interested Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 500 Palestinians have died and GHF has been injured by 4,000 to receive assistance since assistance distribution.
Within the days of GHF operations starting in late May, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate incidents on 1 and 3 June, leading to international condemnation.
Since then, the United Nations and Support groups have expressed an alarm in the near-scored reports of Palestinians being killed near GHF sites, which are inside the military areas of Israel.
Eyewitnesses and Medix have described the opening of a fire on the crowd near the aid points to the forces of Israel on several occasions.
Israeli newspaper Hareratz published a story on Friday, in which anonymous IDF soldiers said they were ordered to shoot unarmed citizens near the help distribution sites to take them away or remove them.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected the report, calling the allegations “malicious lies”.
In a statement to the BBC, the IDF stated that “it does not deliberately instructs the forces to shoot on citizens, including the distribution centers”.
It said that it was looking to improve the “operating response” in the aid areas and recently added new fences and signage, and open new routes to reach the handout areas.
For his share, the head of the GHF said “100% of the casualties are being attributed to the IDF – the best we can tell that this is not even true”.
In last month’s statements, the IDF has said several times that they fired “warning shots” on individuals they described as “suspicious” or claimed that it was a threat.
“We are trying to understand what has really happened, if anything really has happened and is there such a way that we can reduce the chances of decreasing it,” Mr. Moore said.
“In most circumstances we have not been able to identify anything.”
He said, “People need to understand that it is disintegrating that people visiting GHF sites are being killed, we have no evidence of being close to our sites,” he said.
Israel does not allow international news organizations including BBC to send journalists to Gaza, which limits what is happening on the ground in the area.
Mr. Moore alleged that before the operation of GHF, the majority of United Nations aid trucks were being kidnapped at gunpoint.
The United Nations has said that there is no evidence for its aid trucks on a large scale kidnapping. When it was reported, Mr. Moore said that “United Nations is not honest”.
Gaza Is still considered inadequateDespite Israel last month, partially reduced the 11 -week blockade started in March. Experts have warned that there are remains of the area on the verge of famine.
GHF is expecting to reach a milestone of providing 50 million meals in Gaza, which will be less than meals per capita since the operation starts.
When it was pushed on whether the food was really getting to those who were most needed, Mr. Moore admitted that the operation was “insufficient”, but said that 50 million food was more than that being available a month ago.
He said that GHF needs to work with organizations like United Nations.
“The mission is clear. We just want to feed Ghazan,” he said.
On Thursday, the US State Department announced $ 30m (£ 22m; € 26m) in funding for GHF, which is its first known direct contribution to the group.
The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and 251 others were taken hostage.
According to the Hamas-Interested Health Ministry of the region, more than 56,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then.
