Aid after Gaza: what is the future of the humanitarian system?

• Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 'sign of things to come'
• Humanitarian principles at risk
• Warnings over privatisation of aid

LONDON - Fifteen-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Jamal Al-Attar set out to collect food from an Israeli-controlled distribution site in southern Gaza one day in August, but like many others he never made it back; he died after being shot in the chest.

The teenager is among hundreds of Gazans killed near aid hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private Israeli and U.S.-backed outfit set up in May that bypasses the U.N. co-ordinated system that has long supported the enclave.

The shootings have been widely blamed on Israeli forces outside the aid sites. A GHF spokesman said its armed contractors had not used lethal force.

However, the emergence of GHF has fuelled a growing debate over the privatisation and militarisation of aid, and the future of the U.N.-led humanitarian aid system in the face of massive funding cuts. 

"What's happening in Gaza sets an incredibly dangerous precedent for humanitarian crises globally," Alexandra Saieh, Save the Children's global policy lead, told Context.

"We all know that what happens in Gaza never stays in Gaza," she said. "If this is tolerated in Gaza, it could be tolerated in South Sudan, Sudan, DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) or elsewhere, and that's what we are worried is going to happen."

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has worked in Gaza since 2009, said GHF was a "political and strategic tool" that flew in the face of the fundamental humanitarian principles underpinning international relief work.

These require aid agencies to be neutral, provide assistance based solely on need, and remain independent of political, economic, or military objectives.

"In Gaza, people have to run for boxes of food delivered in some kind of Hunger Games, that favours the strongest and fittest," Egeland told Context. "This is in no way the kind of work we should perform."

But it is not just in Gaza, where the humanitarian system is being severely tested.

From Sudan to Myanmar, Venezuela and Russian occupied areas of Ukraine, Egeland said aid agencies were being denied access to civilians affected by conflict on an unprecedented scale.

"I think (these places) are looking to each other," he said. "If Israel is getting away with this, why shouldn't we also control who should or shouldn't get help?"

Private U.S. security

As Gaza marks two years of conflict, the enclave is in ruins and facing catastrophic hunger and famine in the north. 

Israel launched its assault after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.

More than 66,000 people have since been killed and most of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced into 12% of the territory. More than 550 aid workers have also been killed, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, the highest toll of any conflict it has recorded. 

GHF, a U.S.-registered non-profit that uses private U.S. security and logistics firms, began operating at the end of May following an 11-week Israeli blockade on all supplies into Gaza.

Israel said another system was needed because Hamas was stealing aid. Hamas denies this.

Rights groups accuse Israel of weaponising aid to further its war aims in Gaza, and say GHF operates with little oversight.

GHF denies it acts for Israel and says it provides a practical solution to delivering aid in a crisis where the U.N. system is broken.

It has not identified who provided its $100 million start-up money, but says it was not Israel. The United States has since given $30 million.

A door opens

Chris Newton, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, said GHF was likely "a sign of things to come", adding that the Trump administration's closure of the USAID development agency and changes to foreign aid policy suggested it would be keen to support similar initiatives.

"I wouldn't say the floodgates are open because GHF is still so new. But it's easy to see why other states might be interested in something like this," he said.

"That level of control over distribution in service of military and political goals is highly desirable for any number of actors if they can get away with it."

Newton also anticipated the emergence of more companies like Fogbow, a new private entity run by former U.S. soldiers and officials that has delivered aid in Gaza, Sudan and South Sudan.

Fogbow officials say it is a logistics provider, not a humanitarian organisation, but that they try to align their projects with humanitarian principles.

However, critics have raised questions over Fogbow's operation in South Sudan where it was working on behalf of the government, a party to an active conflict.

Sacks of aid airdropped into areas devastated by fighting between the military and local militiamen were marked "South Sudan Humanitarian Relief". Some people refused the food because they did not trust the government.

Fogbow's president Mick Mulroy told Reuters in June that the company had five project requests in conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and attributed rising demand to aid cuts. 

Aid veterans are alarmed. They say private companies lack transparency or accountability and blur the lines between the military and humanitarian sector, potentially jeopardising the safety of aid workers and their ability to deliver assistance.

'Weaponisation of aid'

In Gaza, GHF says it has distributed about 180 million meals from its four hubs in the south. Its Twitter feed contrasts photos of staff handing out boxes to smiling Palestinians with reports of U.N. delivery trucks being plundered.

U.N. agencies and international aid organisations have refused repeated requests from GHF to collaborate.

They strongly refute suggestions the U.N.-led humanitarian system has failed, saying it has been prevented from functioning.

In a letter in August, more than 100 organisations called for an end to Israel's weaponisation of aid. 

Although U.N. agencies are trucking in supplies, most international aid groups have been unable to do so since March, leaving millions of dollars' worth of food, medicine, water, and shelters stuck in warehouses.

Many say Israel has told them they cannot bring in aid until they reregister and provide Palestinian staff lists, which they say is unsafe and unlawful under data protection laws.

The requirement comes under new regulations for international aid groups that include potential consequences for criticising Israel. 

Oxfam policy lead Bushra Khalidi said aid agencies feared the rules could be used to stop them speaking out.

"If governments are using aid to displace or control people we need to say that loudly," she said. "Being neutral doesn't mean staying silent."

(Reporting by Emma Batha; Editing by Jon Hemming.)