The US-backed group distributing aid in Gaza opened a third site yesterday and said more would open in coming weeks as the arrival of thousands of Palestinians seeking desperately needed supplies has tested the capacity of the new system.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private group backed by the US and endorsed by Israel, began operations this week but the launch was marred by tumultuous scenes on Tuesday when thousands rushed the fences and forced private security contractors to retreat.
The chaotic start to the operation has raised international pressure on Israel to get more food in and halt the fighting in Gaza, with new US proposals on the table that Hamas said it was studying.
Yesterday, GHF said it had opened a third distribution hub in Gaza and had so far supplied a total of just over 1.8 million meals. More sites are due to be opened in the coming weeks.
The new system has been heavily criticised by the UN and other aid groups as an inadequate and flawed response to the humanitarian crisis left by Israel’s 11-week blockade on aid entering Gaza.
Wessam Khader, a 25-year-old father of a three-year-old boy, said he had gone every day since Tuesday but only obtained a 3 kg package containing flour, canned sardines, salt, noodles, biscuits and jam on the first day.
“People were hungry and they took everything at the site,” he said.
Even as thousands made their way to the distribution site, Israeli jets continued to pound areas of Gaza, killing at least 45 people yesterday, including 23 people in a strike on the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical workers said.
Meanwhile, Israel has signed off on the latest US ceasefire proposal for Gaza before it was sent to the Palestinian Hamas group, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said yesterday.
President Donald Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff submitted the proposal to Hamas after Israel signed off on it, she said.
“I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home,” Leavitt said at a briefing.
Asked if Hamas had accepted the proposal, she said, “Not to my knowledge.”
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all the 58 hostages still held in Gaza must come back before it will agree to end the war.
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