Humanitarian Foundation in Gaza is accused of complicity in war crimes

The renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice questioned hard, in an interview with Aljazira, the role of Humanitarian Foundation Gaza (GHF), the entity backed by the governments of the United States and Israel, after the death of hundreds of Palestinian civilians around humanitarian aid distribution points.

Nice was categorical in raising the hypothesis that the foundation and its supporters can be integrated, directly or indirectly, to a criminal plan for forced removal or hunger extermination of the Palestinian population. The Israeli press itself brings interviews with soldiers who report how the troops were instructed to fire against Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against people who do not represent any threat.

Since May 27, at least 583 Palestinians have been killed and 4,186 injured while waiting for food in aid distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“Helping and killing at the same time is inexplicable,” says jurist

“It is absolutely terrifying that an organization allegedly focused on providing assistance is involved in situations where hundreds of people are killed during operations,” Nice said, who acted at the International Criminal Court for Ex -iugoslavia.

For him, the facts suggest that one must seek another motivation behind these actions. “Is there a hidden goal, in which this organization participates – consciously or partially – as part of a broader strategy?” Asks the British jurist.

Hani Mahmoud, Aljazira reporter, reporting from the city of Gaza, said the GHF remains the only food source in the track, as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on supply entry by other groups.

“Many people here are trying to stay away from the GHF centers because of the danger involved in going to them because of the continuous and deliberate shootings of aid search engines there,” Mahmoud said. “But again, staying away is not an answer, because if there are no food packages, it means that the children go to bed hungry.”

“If the plan is to be hungry, there is complicity in war crime”

“If the goal is not the aid, but rather provoke hunger or forced displacement of the Palestinians, and if this organization is part of this plan, it is guilty,” he said, speaking of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The lawyer recalls that previous assistance mechanisms, coordinated with local partners and UN agencies, were not associated with the level of deaths today in Gaza.

Hunger, bombing and demolitions: the siege of the population of Gaza

This Friday (28), while the humanitarian crisis gets worse, about 50 air attacks hit the Gaza Strip, with special focus in the eastern part of Gaza. The bombings destroyed residential buildings, tents, water collection points and people looking for food on the streets.

Residents report that on average each Palestinian in Gaza has been forced to travel ten times since October 2023, often without access to food, water or basic survival items. In the north, the city of Jabalia became the target of a new systematic wave of housing demolitions, deepening the collapse of living conditions.

Children starve: “very weak to cry”

In addition to the bombing, hunger has become a weapon of war. The situation of Palestinian children is particularly tragic. According to UNICEF, more than 5,000 children from six months to five years were admitted to severe acute malnutrition in Gaza.

At least 66 children have starved since the beginning of the war. Local doctors report that minors reach hospitals without even the strength to cry.

“With the blockade and hunger imposed, children are increasingly weak,” says Dr. Susan Marouf of Friends of Patients Medical Society in Gaza City. “We managed to save some, but many have developed irreversible paintings.”

“Expecting hungry people not acting with despair is inhuman”

Geoffrey Nice also condemns military logic that justifies deaths based on “suspicious behaviors” during food distribution. According to him, in extreme hunger contexts, reactions are predictable and cannot justify lethal violence.

“You are dealing with hungry people. It’s natural for them to react with despair. Killing these people on the grounds that they behaved in a ‘strange’ way is unacceptable.”

A tragedy announced with power endorsement

Geoffrey Nice’s interview launches serious doubts about the legitimacy of humanitarian actions in Gaza. By directly involving the Humanitarian Foundation Gaza and its sponsors – US and Israel – in possible war crimes, the jurist calls on the international community to investigate the intentionality behind civilian deaths around humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate, and every day the line between aid and weapon becomes more cloudy, as the expert warns.

How do help distribution sites work?

While the United Nations previous distribution network operated about 400 locations throughout the track, the GHF, stored by armed private security contractors who work for a US company, set up only four “mega-sites”, three in the south and one in the center of Gaza-none in the north, where the conditions are more severe.

The GHF centers operate irregularly, sometimes opening for just an hour. In one case, a website announced its opening on Facebook, just to post eight minutes after the supplies had already exhausted.

Access to these centers is dangerous. Palestinians should sometimes walk many kilometers through active combat zones, sail the biometric control points and bring heavy provisions back to their families.

The system, in fact, excludes the most vulnerable – including the elderly, injured and disabled – that are less able to make the trips.

She described a typical GHF box as containing 4 kg (8.8 lb) of flour, some pasta bags, two cans of beans, a pack of tea bags and some cookies. Some packages include lentils and small portions of soup mixture, but the quantities are minimal.

The help boxes themselves barely meet subsistence needs. While the world food program recommends 2,100 calories per person per day, Israel limited help to 1,600.

Before the war began on October 7, 2023, about 500 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza daily. Help deliveries plummeted to less than 80 trucks a day, and in March 2025 Israel interrupted them completely during a block of almost three months in all supplies.