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Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Senior US official hails GHF, blasts UN for refusing to get behind aid distribution effort
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration hails the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, while blasting the UN for refusing to cooperate with the group’s new aid distribution initiative, hours after thousands of Palestinians overran one of its sites in Rafah.
“Aid is getting to the people in need, and through their secure distribution system, Israel is kept safe and Hamas empty handed,” says a statement to reporters attributed to a senior administration official.
The official appears to cite GHF’s figures, stating that roughly 8,000 boxes of food have been distributed in the foundation’s first two days of operation, with each box feeding 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 462,000 meals.
The Trump official says GHF is managing to operate in Gaza, despite attempts by Hamas to place blockades on aid trucks. “GHF is a threat to Hamas’s longstanding system of looting the assistance intended for the people of Gaza.”
GHF was established earlier this year in close coordination with Israeli officials who sought to advance a new method of aid distribution that could circumvent Hamas attempts at diversion.
But the UN and other international organizations have withheld much-needed backing for the GHF, arguing that its initiative violates humanitarian principles by requiring Gazans to walk long distances in order to receive heavy boxes of aid from a small number of distribution sites, likely leading to further displacement of Palestinians.
“The UN and other aid agencies were wrong to criticize,” the senior Trump administration official says, making no mention of Tuesday’s mass-looting incident in one of the two distribution sites GHF has begun to operate. “These organizations echoed Hamas talking points rather than praising those who are delivering results.”
While GHF was only registered this year, the Trump official says the project was born during the Biden administration but was dropped due to “bureaucratic incompetence.”
The Trump administration was impressed by the idea, though, and got behind it. “We support bold, out-of-the-box efforts to make life better for Gazans. GHF is doing exactly that. And we’re proud to back their incredible mission,” the official says.
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