A foundation created with backing from the Trump administration to establish a new system for aid to flow into the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday that it had reached agreements with Israel to begin operations in the enclave before the end of the month. It also suggested that Israel had agreed to allow aid into Gaza as the foundation is setting up its operations.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is meant to create an alternative aid system for the war-torn enclave and to end Israel’s two-month blockade on food and fuel deliveries. Israeli officials say the measure was imposed to pressure Hamas, by reducing the militant group’s ability to access and profit from food and fuel meant for civilians.
The blockade has raised alarms from international organizations about the risk of famine and also from some Israeli military officials who said privately that Gazans will face widespread starvation unless aid deliveries are restored within weeks.
But some other aid groups have already raised doubts about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s approach and the plan’s feasibility.
The foundation’s general plan, according to two Israeli officials and a U.N. diplomat, had been to establish a handful of distribution zones that would each serve food to several hundred thousand Palestinians. This had led to concerns that vulnerable civilians would be forced to walk longer distances to get to the few distribution hubs, making it harder to get food to those who need it most.
In a statement on Wednesday, the foundation for the first time gave an indication of when it would start and said that it had secured several key agreements with Israeli officials. These agreements include allowing aid to flow into Gaza while the foundation sets up the distribution sites, letting the foundation establish sites in more places in the enclave, and creating alternative arrangements for those who cannot reach its locations.
“There is no time to wait for ideal conditions,” said Jake Wood, the foundation’s executive director, in the statement. “We have a responsibility to act.”
The announcement on Wednesday is significant because it suggests that Israel may now allow aid to be distributed in Gaza before the new system will be set in place, even if there’s a risk it could fall into the hands of Hamas. Some Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, have vowed not to permit aid to flow as long as Hamas can profit from it.
But according to two Israeli defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters, the Israeli military is considering the possibility that, given the dire food situation in Gaza, it may have to allow aid in.
While any resumption of food deliveries would help address rising hunger in Gaza, the U.N. has said it had too many reservations to participate, including that a more limited number of distribution sites could mean leaving many Gazans without food and other critical supplies.
In a briefing paper distributed this month to partners, including U.N. member states and other aid agencies, the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said the project could also be a way of forcibly displacing civilians in northern Gaza, with the aid sites likely to be built in southern Gaza.
Aid workers also warned that the new system may make civilians who live far from the distribution points more vulnerable to looters and thieves.
The agreements the foundation said it had secured with Israel appear to address some of those worries. The foundation also said in the statement that it is in “the final stages of procuring large volumes of food aid to supplement existing pledges from humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza” and that it expects the total commitment in the first 90 days to exceed 300 million meals, “representing one of the largest emergency food distributions in the region’s recent history.”
Still, it is not yet clear when aid will begin to flow to the enclave again under the U.S.-backed plan, among many other unknown details.
At a media briefing last week, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, acknowledged the new system would face challenges, at least initially, but said, “The danger is not doing anything.”
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, based in Tel Aviv.
Ephrat Livni is a reporter for The Times’s DealBook newsletter, based in Washington.
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