Aid group suspends Gaza operations after ceasefire

The controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has confirmed that it has suspended its operations in Gaza after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into force on October 10.

Although it is funded through November, the organization said the final delivery will be made on Friday.

GHF was heavily criticized after hundreds of Palestinians were killed while collecting food near their distribution sites. Eyewitnesses say most were killed by Israeli forces.

Israel has regularly denied that its soldiers have opened fire on civilians in or near these areas, and the GHF has maintained that aid distribution in its areas was carried out “without incident”.

The group’s northernmost aid distribution site, known as SDS4, was closed because it was no longer in IDF-controlled territory, a spokesman said.

Satellite images revealed that it was dismantled shortly after the October 10 ceasefire came into effect. The footage shows tire tracks, degraded soil and debris scattered throughout the old campus.

“We are currently paused,” a GHF spokesperson said. “We think there is still a need for as much aid as possible, there is an increase. Our goal is to restart aid distribution.”

Despite the group’s clear desire to continue, there is speculation that the final terms of the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel will exclude them.

Meanwhile, analysis of data provided by the UN shows little change in aid collected from crossings since the ceasefire agreement came into force last Friday.

The average amount of aid “collected” each day, defined by the UN as leaving an Israeli-controlled border crossing, rose slightly from the previous week but remains in line with September figures.

UN data shows that about 20% of aid leaving the border since May 19 has reached its intended destination. More than 7,000 aid trucks were “stopped” either “peacefully by hungry people or by force by armed actors,” according to UN data.

Aid sources told the BBC they hoped looting would decrease in the coming weeks as law and order was restored and the public was assured that the ceasefire would continue.

A spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was critical that the ceasefire allowed for an increase in aid and other essential supplies, but that it was also important to reach vulnerable Gazans, including in areas that were inaccessible until recently.

OCHA has hundreds of community and home service points involved in aid distribution. It has lost access to many people, sometimes due to conflict and sometimes due to Israeli denial of access.

“We need to rebuild our service points, we need to reduce looting, we need roads cleared of unexploded ordnance and we need security assurances,” an OCHA spokesman said.