(August 7, 2025)

The conflict in Gaza has been marked by 21 months of abject horror and
dehumanisation. The world has watched as a civilian population, unable to
flee, has been starved, forcibly displaced and bombarded by one of the world’s
most “sophisticated” militaries — armed by Western states. In May 2025, the
unfolding genocide in Gaza was marked by a disturbing new development
as Israeli authorities moved to dismantle the UN-led humanitarian response,
replacing it with a militarised food distribution scheme run by a previously
unknown entity — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).1 The GHF has
been touted by the Israeli and US governments as an “innovative solution”
— a supposed answer to unproven claims of aid diversion in Gaza and
unfounded accusations of UN failure.

In practice, the militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised
starvation and curated suffering. Distributions at GHF sites have resulted in
extreme levels of violence and killings, primarily of young Palestinian men,
but also of women and children, who have gone to the sites in the hope of
receiving food. At the time of writing, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reports
that more than 1,000 people have been killed and 7,200 injured while
attempting to collect aid — the vast majority of them at GHF distribution
sites.3 Shockingly, we have witnessed the impact of the violence with our
own eyes. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams have been working
on the frontline, treating people with devastating injuries — gunshot wounds,
barbed wire lacerations, crush injuries from stampedes — sustained while
trying to receive aid at GHF distribution sites.