Aidpocalypse
Gazans are starving. So why are 950 trucks full of food just sitting there?
If you’ve opened the internet this week, you’re probably losing your mind a little bit.
I certainly am. No matter how many articles I read on the crisis in Gaza, every post seems to contradict the one before it. Never in my life have I seen more contradictory information dumped into the discourse blender.
Something is off. Like, eating sushi from a gas station off.
Gaza is facing a famine, this much we know. But why did it get to this? Most of the news would have you think Israel is hoarding humanitarian aid like it’s Beanie Babies circa 1997. We know now that’s not true because nearly 1,000 trucks of aid are literally sitting in Gaza.
The aid is there. It’s just not being delivered. It’s like the food is on the shelf, but nobody’s able to take it to check out.
So… what’s going on?
Here’s how aid delivery worked up until two months ago:
Aid trucks get cleared through Israel.
Aid gets passed to UN agencies like UNRWA or WFP.
UNRWA hands it to local actors (who may or may not moonlight as members of Hamas).
Hamas may or may not intercept the aid and resell flour and baby formula at black market prices.
Civilians get whatever scraps are left over.
It was a broken system, sure. But at least it was a semi-functioning broken system.
The problem seems to stem from political infighting within Gaza over a new aid group formed in May between Israel and the U.S.
Back in May, Israel rolled out a brand-new system that replaced the U.N. with a U.S.-backed private contractor called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), led by a former CIA officer. Because if there’s one thing the region was missing, it was a startup NGO with a black-ops origin story.
Key Problems with the New System:
The GHF replaced 400 UN‑run distribution points with just 4 GHF hubs, forcing people into militarized zones to receive aid
The UN has decades of experience coordinating humanitarian aid in war zones. GHF started 2 months ago.
Israel’s new system forces civilians to walk through dangerous militarized zones to access food as if they’re contestants on Squid Game.
The UN says Israel is obstructing aid with red tape and unsafe routes.
Israel says the UN is inefficient and complicit with Hamas.
Meanwhile, people are starving.
The idea behind GHF, in theory, wasn’t terrible. The goal may have been to cut Hamas out of the process and force a ceasefire hostage-release deal. But the result is a collapsing aid system that has neither legitimacy nor coordination.
Since the change:
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, around 1,000 people have been killed near these aid sites. Take that number with a grain of salt—this is the same source that’s been caught inflating stats before—but even if it’s a tiny bit true, it’s horrific.
Aid convoys are sitting idle, not because they can't enter Gaza, but because no one will safely deliver them.
We’re watching a famine unfold not because there isn’t food, but because of political infighting within Gaza.
GHF is like, "We’ve got trucks. We’ve got partners. Can we maybe feed people now?
And the UN is like, “Nah, we only do warlord delivery.”
Well.
Instead of adapting to this new operation, the UN has just stopped doing its job.
UNRWA can’t secure convoys. WFP convoys sometimes get looted.
So instead of working together, everyone’s just pointing fingers at Israel while aid literally sits inside Gaza.
If you're confused, you're not alone.
I’m confused too.
This isn’t just about who lets aid in. It’s about who gets to deliver it, distribute it, and control the narrative around it.
Add to the pile of contradictions:
Israel says Hamas steals UN aid.
Israeli military now says: actually, they didn’t. Not routinely. (via The NY Times)
Hamas did steal from smaller NGOs, but there’s apparently no conclusive proof they raided the UN pipeline. “Routinely,” that is. Maybe just sometimes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government blocked aid for 2 months based on that assumption.
And now the people are starving.
Why is the U.N. Refusing to Deliver Aid?
In a July 25th Wall Street Journal op-ed, the exec chairman of GHF, Rev Johnnie Moore, makes clear his organization has repeatedly called for the U.N. and its affiliate agencies to combine efforts to feed the people of Gaza. Instead, he says, they’ve been met with silence and “smears.”
He says
Rather than acknowledging the broader systemic failures affecting all aid groups, U.N. spokespeople and U.N.-aligned organizations have attacked the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for its association with Israel.
He goes on to say
It is unacceptable that these thousands of tons of aid remain undistributed or delayed while civilians continue to go without food. This wasn’t an inevitable outcome, it resulted from a lack of adaptability and an unwillingness to collaborate.
To not distribute what is already there is outrageous and a tragedy.
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