The new aid system in Gaza suspended at least some activity for a second day on Thursday as Israel shifted operations amid chaos at distribution sites that has included deadly shootings.
The shift has included empowering and arming rivals to Hamas to play a role in aid distribution, Israeli news organizations reported on Thursday.
“Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a one-line statement following the news reports.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new U.S-Israeli mechanism to deliver aid in Gaza and bypass Hamas, has been marred by upheaval since it launched last month, following more than two months of an Israeli blockade under which no aid entered Gaza. The British government threatened sanctions over the aid effort, the inaugural leader exited after complaining of limited autonomy, and a marquee consulting group backed out amid reports of dozens of Palestinians killed near the distribution sites.
Meanwhile, media coverage of the crises has ignited criticism and at least one major correction, to a Washington Post story that initially repeated Hamas’ claim that Israel was responsible for the killings.
Israel said the new effort, which launched amid warnings of widespread food shortages, was designed to ensure that Hamas terrorists would not seize supplies. But the rollout has been marred by chaos, drawing a barrage of criticism from international humanitarian groups that say its activities fall far short of meeting the massive need for food in Gaza and force residents to walk long distances across dangerous territory.
That criticism intensified after Hamas-affiliated health officials and the Red Cross reported that more than 20 people were killed at the distribution centers on Sunday and again on Tuesday. In response, the foundation, which is run by American contractors and secured by the Israeli military, said it would suspend aid distribution on Wednesday and part of Thursday.
The previous week, Boston Consulting Group, which had partnered pro-bono on the foundation’s work, said it would pull out and announced a review of its work in Gaza, according to the Wall Street Journal. (Nearly half a century ago, before he formally entered politics, Netanyahu worked as a consultant for BCG.)
The group’s exit came as the inaugural director, a U.S. military veteran named Jake Wood, resigned just hours before the first site was set to open, saying that Israel retained more control than he expected. This week, He was replaced by Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian public relations executive and ally of U.S. President Donald Trump who takes partial credit for Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in 2018.
On his Linkedin profile, Moore describes himself as “a bridge builder and peacemaker especially known for consequential work at the intersection of faith and foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.”
He assumes the role amid mass confusion about violence at the distribution sites, where Hamas said dozens were killed in multiple incidents.
Israel initially denied killing anyone at the sites. Late Tuesday night, a military spokesperson said the IDF has not fired within the distribution areas but did fire warning shots nearby on Tuesday, and would investigate “any incident that requires review.” The spokesperson blamed Hamas for trying to “sabotage” the aid distribution and said the military would “do whatever is necessary to ensure that the aid does not fall into the hands of Hamas.”
“According to initial findings, the IDF did not fire at civilians within the aid distribution centers. Any claims to the contrary are entirely false, harm our forces and serve Hamas propaganda,” said the spokesperson, Effie Defrin. “Earlier today, IDF forces carried out warning fire approximately half a kilometer from the aid distribution center, targeting a few individuals who were approaching in a way that posed the security threat. We are not preventing Gaza residents from accessing the a distribution sites.”
But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his country had halted negotiations over a free trade agreement with Israel, and may apply sanctions to the country, in protest of the aid crisis and other Israeli activity, which he called “appalling and in my view counterproductive and intolerable.”
He added, speaking in the House of Commons, “We have strongly opposed the expansion of military operations and settler violence, and the blocking of humanitarian aid. … We will keep looking at further actions along with our allies, including sanctions.”
The United Nations secretary general also condemned the killings and called for an investigation. On Wednesday, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire.
The competing claims over carnage at the sites have rippled out into another controversy, as Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, accused the BBC of “tak[ing] the word of Hamas with total truth” regarding the fatalities, and then retracting its reporting — though she also said the administration was examining the claims.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry shared a clip of Leavitt’s remarks on X Tuesday, adding, “Maybe the @BBC should stop spreading fake news to vilify Israel.”
The BBC defended its coverage on Wednesday, acknowledging that it had updated estimates of the number killed on Sunday in its headline but that it had not retracted any article.
“The claim the BBC took down a story after reviewing footage is completely wrong. We did not remove any story and we stand by our journalism,” the British network’s statement said.
But another outlet, The Washington Post, posted on X that it had corrected an article and deleted a tweet from Sunday that, it said, did not give appropriate weight to Israeli claims. The tweet had said Israeli fire had killed people at the aid site.
“The article failed to make clear if attributing the deaths to Israel was the position of the Gaza health ministry or a fact verified by The Post,” the tweet said. “The article and headline were updated on Sunday evening making it clear that there was no consensus about who was responsible for the shootings and that there was a dispute over that question.”
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