Israel’s plan to militarize aid in Gaza faces opposition from UN and NGOs

An international NGO worker with a presence in Gaza illustrates the current situation with a simile. There is an “old world” of humanitarian aid — where U.N. agencies and NGOs have operated for decades, guided by principles like impartiality and independence. And now, there is a “new world”: one in which Israel plans to resume the entry of food, water, and medicine after nine weeks of blockade, during which looting became widespread and staples like flour and sugar cost more in Gaza than in the world’s most-expensive countries.

On Monday, the Israeli security cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approved this “new world,” alongside a plan to permanently occupy at least parts of the Gaza Strip — a move for which tens of thousands of reservists have already been mobilized.

Following the forced displacement of nearly the entire population, Israeli soldiers will use biometric data to determine who can pass. In addition, private U.S. security contractors — similar to those who once navigated the ruins of Iraq and Afghanistan — will monitor the process. U.N. agencies and international NGOs active in Gaza have made it clear they will not participate, raising countless questions about the future of humanitarian aid for the 2.2 million people who are already suffering and on the brink of starvation.

Militarization of aid

Israel plans to launch the new aid distribution system this month. While it has not formally disclosed the full details, official statements and leaks have outlined a highly militarized approach to humanitarian assistance — one that has already sparked deep concern across the aid sector.

Firstly, it is based on the largest forced population displacement since the start of the Israeli invasion 18 months ago. Gazans will be relocated to the southern city of Khan Yunis, where three aid distribution points will be established. The Israeli Armed Forces will then allow approximately 60 trucks with basic humanitarian food and household items into Gaza a day. This represents just 10% of the aid delivered daily during the two-month ceasefire that Netanyahu broke in March. It falls far short of meeting the needs of a population where, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 54 people have already died from malnutrition or dehydration.

The plan resembles the situation 15 years ago, during the most severe phase of the Gaza blockade following Hamas’ rise to power, when the Israeli military used a mathematical formula to determine the minimum number of calories per person that had to be allowed into the territory to avert a famine.

One of the main changes is the involvement of private U.S. security contractors. They will monitor the trucks from the Kerem Shalom border crossing to the distribution points in southern Gaza. These areas will be under the full and permanent control of the Israeli Army, which will decide who is allowed in and will manage the biometric data of those attempting to enter. Each family will be allowed a single representative.

The contractors will also be responsible for the security of the distribution points, but not for delivering the aid itself, which will be handled by humanitarian workers. This is where the opaque Gaza Humanitarian Foundation comes into play — a recently registered organization in Switzerland whose top officials lack experience in the humanitarian field. Israel’s Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, has made it clear that troops will not deliver the aid.

The risks are clear: the Israeli army would have the power to decide who gains access to food and who doesn’t as a form of reward or punishment. There’s also the danger for both Gazans and humanitarian workers of having to travel to a heavily militarized area they are currently prohibited from approaching. What will those living miles away from the distribution zone eat? Add to this the difficulties faced by the elderly or people with mobility issues, or the challenge for others of transporting a food package weighing an estimated 70 kilos per week across a devastated Gaza with almost no fuel.

In short, the plan strays far from the principles that underpin humanitarian action: humanity, impartiality, independence, and neutrality. As U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher stated in a press release, the proposal “does not meet the minimum bar for principled humanitarian support.”

“It basically goes against the way we deliver aid, which is by going to where people are, rather than telling them to go to a specific place to pick it up,” Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told EL PAÍS via videoconference. Some —due to financial, age, or mobility issues — will not be able to reach them. And the rest will risk their lives even further just to be able to eat: “One of the most fundamental principles is ‘do no harm.’ And this definitely puts people in danger,” said Cherevko, who has spent five years in Gaza.

In a joint statement meant to show unity and a stronger stance than usual, the forum bringing together the heads of U.N. agencies and NGOs (both international and Palestinian) working on humanitarian issues in Gaza and the West Bank made clear on Sunday that they will not participate in Israel’s plan.

“It contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic — as part of a military strategy," read the statement. “It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarized zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement.”

Both Fletcher and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on world leaders to “use their influence” to ensure that Israel maintains the current system, lifts the blockade, and allows the roughly 3,000 aid trucks — waiting for clearance for weeks on the other side of the border — to enter.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the U.N. refugee agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), described Israel’s “politically motivated starvation” in Gaza as an “expression of absolute cruelty.”

“It cannot be addressed by weaponizing humanitarian assistance,” he posted on social media on Tuesday. “Humanitarian agencies have a set of principles to ensure assistance is delivered to all those in need, without exception. The model of aid distribution proposed by the State of Israel falls far short from addressing the devastating hunger.”

Israel justifies the need for this mechanism by claiming it is meant to prevent Hamas from stealing aid — a claim for which it has presented no evidence and which has not been corroborated by any international organization or NGO operating on the ground.

“We have no evidence that large-scale diversion by Hamas is occurring. So, in our view, it’s not a truly valid claim,” said Cherevko, adding that U.N. agencies have their own systems to prevent this and to be accountable to donors. “We have a mechanism that works, that is neither broken nor corrupt. And that’s why it’s been working for a long time.”

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump repeated Israel’s claims, arguing that Hamas was making it “impossible” for the population to receive aid. “We’re going to help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving, and we’re going to help them get some food,” he said.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition