August 2025:
Key Findings:
- Violence at GHF Distribution Sites:
- The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.-backed entity, replaced UN-led aid distribution in Gaza with a militarized system, resulting in systematic violence.
- Over seven weeks (June–July 2025), MSF treated 1,380 casualties (28 dead, 1,352 injured) from GHF sites, including 174 gunshot wounds (71 children).
- Testimonies describe indiscriminate shootings, stampedes, and suffocation at sites “secured” by armed contractors and Israeli forces.
- Targeting of Vulnerable Groups:
- 96% of injured were young men (under 30), sent by families to risk their lives for food.
- Children were shot: MSF treated 71 children with gunshot wounds, including an 8-year-old girl shot in the chest.
- Elderly, disabled, and women face exclusion due to inaccessible sites.
- Systematic Failures of GHF:
- Only 4 distribution sites (down from 400 under UN), located in militarized zones, with chaotic openings/closures.
- Aid is insufficient (less than one meal/person/day) and often looted. Crowds face live fire, pepper spray, and barbed wire.
- No accountability: Complaints about violence are ignored; investigations are absent.
- Collapse of Healthcare:
- MSF clinics overwhelmed; body bags ordered biweekly.
- Hospitals lack capacity; patients die waiting for transfers.
MSF’s Demands:
- Immediately dismantle GHF and restore UN-led aid.
- Open all borders to allow commercial and humanitarian aid at scale.
- Investigate violations (e.g., indiscriminate shootings).
- Cease U.S./international funding to GHF.
Conclusion:
The GHF system weaponizes starvation, turning aid distribution into “orchestrated killing.” MSF condemns it as a violation of humanitarian principles and calls for urgent action to stop the violence and address Gaza’s famine.
Key Quote:
“Children shot in the chest while reaching for food… This is not aid. It is institutionalized violence.” — MSF General Director Raquel Ayora.
Annex: GHF fails all Sphere Humanitarian Standards (safety, accessibility, transparency).