(RNS) — After struggling for months to find partners to help them deliver aid to Gaza, the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has picked up a collaborator — Samaritan’s Purse, the international Christian disaster relief organization headed by the Rev. Franklin Graham.
Since July 26, Samaritan’s Purse has sent eight relief flights for Gaza carrying 169 tons of supplemental food packets that have been distributed through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s four Gaza-based hubs. In addition, Samaritan’s Purse has sent a medical team of six nurses and paramedics to provide first aid treatment at these distribution sites, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed.
The GHF is a private, Israel-and U.S. backed project staffed with U.S. security contractors and financed with $30 million in U.S. tax dollars, and a matching commitment from Israel. It was created to displace the United Nations’ various humanitarian relief efforts, which Israel has prevented from functioning.
But since the GHF began its operations in mid-May, more than 1,400 unarmed Palestinian civilians have reportedly been killed by Israel Defense Forces while seeking food aid at or near the GHF distribution sites, known as Safe Distribution Hubs, located in remote militarized zones.
Aid groups and governments around the world have condemned the operation and accused it of violating humanit …