Gaza – Six months after its launch, the American “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” announced the end of its work in the Strip, leaving behind a long record of starving two million Palestinians, and killing more than a thousand of them while trying to obtain food at the doorsteps of its distribution points.
Although the Foundation said that it was ending its “historic” mission after distributing 187 million free meals, it left open wounds for thousands of injured witnesses to the crimes committed by soldiers and mercenaries against the hungry. Will its file be closed when its work ends? Or does it remain open to holding it accountable for its participation in the war of annihilation launched by Israel against Gaza?
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Abdullah Abu Shawish’s body still bears pain after he was shot in the foot by a sniper while trying to get food from the American aid distribution center, which the organization established in the “Netzarim” area in the central Gaza Strip. He suffers from a fall in his foot and needs treatment abroad, and his memory retains many painful scenes of victims killed before his eyes, after they waited for long hours while hungry for a meal.
The so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” announces the conclusion of its work in the Strip, amid demands that it be held accountable “for its crimes against the people of Gaza.”#Al Jazeera #video pic.twitter.com/8kBqtpvEEm
– Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) November 25, 2025
“Fatal” institution
Ayman Abu Shanab suffered a fatal injury, as several bullets hit his stomach and severed his intestines, after he rushed with other starving people to get food from one of the aid distribution centers. Although the “Gaza Foundation” said that it had succeeded in distributing 187 million meals, this number reveals its participation in starving the Strip.
A simple calculation process, by dividing the announced number of meals distributed during the 6 months of its operation by the population of Gaza, which amounts to 2.4 million people, reveals that the share of one person amounts to 78 meals within 180 days, meaning that he eats only 13 meals during one month, and remains hungry for more than half of the month, if it is assumed that the meals reach all residents of the Strip.
The organization began its work in Gaza on May 27, that is, two full months after the occupation forces closed all crossings in the Strip, and at a time when it was refusing to bring in any humanitarian aid through international institutions.
John Acree, the organization’s executive director, said, “Our goal was to prove that a new approach could succeed, where previous methods had failed, led by an American team of humanitarian work professionals and former military personnel.” However, the special statistics obtained by Al Jazeera Net from the competent authorities in Gaza prove the martyrdom of 1,109 Palestinians, who fell directly as a result of gunfire or bombing while approaching or entering American distribution centers, including 225 children, 852 adults, and 32 adults. Age.
Urgent | Government Media Office in Gaza: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was a false humanitarian cover and turned its centers into death traps and mass killings. pic.twitter.com/MwqIWWLMtz
– Al Jazeera Egypt (@AJA_Egypt) November 25, 2025
The data indicate that 464 of them were martyred in the “Netzarim” distribution center, and 645 were martyred in the Rafah distribution centers.
The total number of martyrs who were targeted while waiting for aid throughout the two years of war reached 1,506 martyrs, and 19,182 injuries, meaning that the organization’s distribution centers killed 73% of their total number, in scenes that embody the crime of starvation and intentional killing, according to Ismail Al-Thawabta, Director General of the Government Information Office in Gaza.
Al-Thawabta confirmed to Al-Jazeera Net that the occupation turned the aid distribution centers of the American-Israeli system into death traps and mass killings, and committed organized crimes under the cover of “humanitarian centers,” while in practice they are sites of luring and field executions of civilians.
He stressed that these violations constitute full-fledged war crimes and part of the policy of genocide through starvation carried out by the occupation against the residents of the Gaza Strip, and the occupation authorities and the supporting American parties bear full responsibility for these massacres.
Starvation engineering
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation worked through only 4 centers in the center and south of the Gaza Strip. Al-Thawabta says that the occupation promoted that it was adopting a safe and organized system for distributing aid, but field facts quickly proved that the real goal was to manage and engineer starvation and direct the movement of civilians to open points that the occupation forces use as tools of command and control, as they force the starving to move along paths that serve their military objectives, facilitating their direct targeting and killing, and not alleviating the humanitarian crisis.
The institution witnessed several resignations from those in charge of it during its period of work in protest against its practices and violations against the hungry.
In a statement, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) called on legal institutions and international courts to “pursue the institution and those in charge of it, and hold them accountable for their crimes against the Palestinian people, so that the tragedy is not repeated, and to protect humanity from organized international terrorism.”
Legally, Muhammad Al-Khairy, coordinator of the work of the Gaza Center for Human Rights, said that they followed with great concern the dangerous role played by this institution, and the practices that accompanied its work that demonstrated the clear bias and blatant politicization of humanitarian aid, and the transformation of relief into a tool for pressure and control of the civilian population in light of the siege, aggression and famine.
The Center documented testimonies and facts indicating that the organization’s business model relied on the militarization of aid, and linking its distribution operations to military and security agencies, which led to civilians being exposed to death or injury while trying to access food, in addition to creating a discriminatory environment in the distribution of aid, and depriving large segments of their right to access food and medicine, based on considerations that have nothing to do with humanitarian standards.
Calls for accountability
Al-Khairi explained to Al-Jazeera Net that these practices constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, especially with regard to protecting civilians and not using aid as a means of subjugation or collective punishment. Starving the population is also a war crime and crimes against humanity according to the statute of the International Criminal Court.
He stressed that the American institution’s style of work directly contradicts the procedures and directives issued by the International Criminal Court, which in its recent decisions regarding the situation in Gaza stressed the prohibition of the use of starvation as a means of war, and considered obstructing the arrival of humanitarian aid, politicizing it, or subjecting it to military or security considerations to be a war crime that requires individual and institutional accountability.
According to Al-Khairi, the crimes and violations committed by this institution do not have a statute of limitations, and its file cannot be closed once it announces the cessation of its activities or its departure from the field, as responsibility remains legally, morally and politically, whether at the level of individuals or institutions. He called for the opening of an urgent international criminal investigation into its role and those responsible for it, and every party that provided support or cover for these policies that violate the law.
He called on the authorities in the institution’s countries of registration to open an official investigation into its work and connections, and to take the necessary legal measures, including freezing its activity or withdrawing its license if it is proven that it is involved in violations.
He stressed the need to guarantee the right of victims and their families to resort to justice, and to request fair compensation for the human, material and moral losses caused by its business model.
He also called on the international community to return humanitarian aid to neutral and internationally recognized channels, led by United Nations agencies and independent non-governmental organizations, away from any political or military interference.