Egypt Daily News – The director of a U.S.-backed humanitarian organization tasked with distributing aid in Gaza resigned unexpectedly, just one day before the operation was set to begin. while an Israeli airstrike on a school building killed dozens of Palestinians who had been sheltering inside.
Jake Wood, a former U.S. Marine and CEO of the Gaza Relief Organization for the past two months, announced his resignation, stating the organization could not uphold “the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, integrity, and independence.” His departure highlights the growing confusion and controversy surrounding the organization, which has been boycotted by the United Nations and major aid groups that had previously delivered assistance to Gaza before Israel imposed a full blockade on the territory in March.
These aid organizations argue that the new system undermines the principle of neutral oversight in humanitarian work. While Israel, which proposed a similar plan earlier this year, says it will not be involved in aid distribution directly, it has endorsed the plan and is providing security support.
Some humanitarian aid has begun entering Gaza in recent days after Israel yielded to international pressure, following months of preventing aid deliveries since early March. However, only a few hundred trucks have entered so far, carrying a fraction of the food needed by Gaza’s two million residents, who face the risk of famine after nearly three months of siege.
The Gaza Relief Organization, which plans to rely on private contractors operating under broad Israeli security supervision, said it would begin aid distribution on Monday with the goal of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
In a statement, the organization said, “We plan to rapidly scale operations to serve the entire population in the coming weeks.”
Registered in Switzerland, the organization has come under strong criticism from the United Nations, whose officials argue that the group’s aid distribution plans are inadequate for reaching Gaza’s more than two million people.
Relief officials said the new operation would rely on four main distribution centers in southern Gaza, where families will be screened to ensure they have no links to the Palestinian resistance group Hamas—potentially using facial recognition technology.
However, many details about how the operation will function remain unclear. It is also uncertain whether the aid organizations that refused to cooperate with the new entity will still be able to send trucks into Gaza.
Hamas condemned the new system, saying it seeks to “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and weaponize food in wartime.”
Israel says the system is designed to prevent aid from falling into the hands of Hamas, whom it accuses of stealing food and using it to exert control over the population. Hamas denies the accusations, saying it protects aid convoys from armed gangs and looters.
