Summary
- Gaza Humanitarian Foundation expanding from 4 to 16
sites.
- Plans to operate sites up to 24 hours daily.
- GHF is US and Israeli-backed, operated by US
contractors.
- The expansion aims to address the worsening Gaza hunger crisis.
Huckabee’s comments came as he was asked about a recent Axios report stating that the U.S. planned to take over the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip.
“The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16, and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day, to get more food to more people more efficiently,”
Ambassador Huckabee said during an appearance on Fox News.
“Well, I think the president of the United States always has a very important role in something like this if he chooses to do it,”
Huckabee stated.
Huckabee reaffirmed that U.S. President Trump is adamant about getting more aid into Gaza, but wants to avoid any Hamas seizure of the aid.
“The president has been telling us he wants foods into the hands of hungry people but he wants it in a way that it doesn’t get into the hands of Hamas,”
Huckabee said.
“That’s exactly what we did when we stood up GHF.”
Though "it has the support and cooperation of the IDF, but it's not under their control," the ambassador described the GHF as "an American-based operation."
"The result has been pretty phenomenal, over 106 million meals served at four feeding sites,"
said Huckabee, who
traveled to the Gaza Strip and observed a GHF distribution facility with
special envoy Steve Witkoff last week.
The fact that aid is "not going into the
hands of looters and thieves" is another indication of the U.S.-backed aid
organization's success, according to Huckabee. It is being given to those who
have come because they are in dire need of food.
The United Nations and other non-governmental
organizations that distribute relief in Gaza have repeatedly criticized the
GHF, accusing the U.S.-backed organization of putting Palestinian lives in
danger. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is operated by Hamas, has been cited by
the UN as saying that IDF soldiers had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians
close to the relief locations.
Other than statements from hospital personnel,
neither the UN nor the GHF have offered any proof of the allegations. Rev.
Johnnie Moore, the head of GHF, has criticized allegations as fraudulent on
numerous occasions.
The UN still denies that Hamas is stealing
humanitarian supplies, even though the IDF has released many films showing
armed militants, presumably from terror groups, seizing humanitarian aid
convoys entering through the UN system during the conflict.
In a report published earlier this week, Axios
said that President Trump plans to have the U.S. “take over” management of the
humanitarian aid situation in Gaza. Axios cited an unnamed U.S. official who claimed
that Trump is “not thrilled” about the U.S. taking over the aid situation, but
said, “There doesn't seem to be another way.”
“The starvation problem in Gaza is getting
worse. Donald Trump does not like that. He does not want babies to starve. He
wants mothers to be able to nurse their children. He's becoming fixated on
that,” Axios quoted the official as saying.
It quoted another anonymous U.S. official as
saying that Trump does not want the U.S. to be the only country paying for aid
to Gaza.
“The president doesn't want to see the U.S. being the only country throwing money at this problem. It's a global problem. And he's been tasking Witkoff and others to make sure everyone is stepping up, our European friends and our Arab friends,"
the official reportedly
said.
Axios claims that Israeli authorities support
the concept since it would relieve part of the IDF's workload.
Regarding the anticipated Israeli plan to
completely occupy the Gaza Strip, which will be put to a vote by the security
cabinet later today, it is unclear how the United States taking charge of the
humanitarian aid crisis would unfold.
After concentrating on capturing Gaza City, the
U.S. might establish comparable assistance distribution locations in the
northern Gaza Strip, which is primarily under IDF control.
The choice to occupy Gaza is "up to Israel," according to President Trump, who has declined to express a public position on the matter.
What challenges might Gaza face with the increased number of aid sites?
Aid distribution sites, especially those backed
by entities like the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), have been sites of
violence and insecurity.
For example, previous GHF mega-sites faced
deadly confrontations, with armed private security presence and locations near
conflict zones causing risks to civilians and aid workers.
Despite increasing the number of sites from 4 to
16, physical access remains constrained due to damaged roads, military
restrictions, and unstable law and order inside Gaza. The collapsed civilian
police force and presence of armed gangs create further insecurity around aid
routes and facilities.