MSF say militarized Gaza aid scheme left thousands dead, injured

Reminds Israel and the US that the militarization of humanitarian assistance should never be replicated

JERUSALEM / AMMAN – One year ago the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operating militarized food distribution points across the Gaza Strip, replacing the UN-coordinated aid distribution system. The GHF, run by Israel with financial support from the United States and other allies, closed within six months, as its related violence killed and injured thousands. Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) still treats scores of patients impacted by this violence, who are living with trauma and even life-long injuries.

Amid evolving plans for the Gaza Strip, MSF reminds Israel and the US that the militarization of humanitarian assistance risks causing grave violence and harm and should never be replicated.

“As MSF documented with medical evidence, people who were seeking food in desperate and siege-like conditions suffered horrendous levels of targeted and indiscriminate violence,” said Joan Tubau, MSF head of mission for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Children were shot in the chest while reaching for food, people were crushed or suffocated in stampedes and entire crowds were gunned down at distribution points. Today many GHF related patients are entirely dependent on charity and community kitchens due to their mobility issues and lack of ability to work and provide for their families.” 

The GHF was established to deliver food assistance to people in Gaza, following months of Israel’s total blockade, replacing some 400 existing aid sites. The four GHF sites became operational in late May 2025 and were ‘secured’ by private American armed contractors, with the Israeli forces maintaining control over the wider perimeter.

Between June and October 2025, MSF teams recorded at least 32 deaths and treated 1,885 patients for injuries at MSF’s Al Attar and Al Mawasi primary healthcare centres in Khan Younis.

“My friend was executed in front of my eyes. It still haunts me,” said Karim, who was a barber. He suffered life-changing injuries permanently damaging a nerve in his leg. “Both of us were caught and handcuffed (by Israeli soldiers) behind our backs. A drone was called above me, and four men were asked to take me away.”

Another patient, Muhammad, received nine gunshots. He hopes to walk again but suffers chronic pain and needs physiotherapy. “There was never enough food for everyone. There was a lot of crushing because the narrow iron gates were not wide enough. I saw many dead, including women. One was shot in the chest and one in the back. They were shooting at many different points. The Israeli soldier shooting at me was stationed on a hill,” he said.

“While lying on the ground, I waved ‘please stop, that’s enough’. But he shot at my hands just for fun.”

Mustafa, a taxi driver from Rafah, developed a heel infection which caused rotting after a gunshot wound broke two of his bones: “GHF was so humiliating; thousands of people would run towards it, then the IDF would shoot on us from fixed points. Two thirds of the injured people in Gaza I know were cases from GHF,” says Mustafa, whose 17-year-old nephew was shot in the head and killed by a sniper.

These testimonies are reflective of many who have been forced to live with external fixators or that still require close and constant medical follow-up.

“Despite its temporary existence, this devastating aid scheme brought broader social consequences as it forced people into extreme fear, scarcity and competition, leading to trauma and changes in community dynamics,” says Nicholas Papachrysostomou, MSF emergency coordinator for Gaza.

The GHF also played a key role in the malnutrition crisis manufactured by Israel. The drastic reduction of food and aid distribution points compounded by the total siege, intensified violence, mass displacement and destruction of health facilities had a direct role in the famine declared in mid-2025,  with devastating consequences on vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborns and children.

“Nothing about GHF was a humanitarian solution. One year on, the magnitude of the harm inflicted on people at GHF distribution points without any accountability requires an independent investigation. The International Court of Justice ruling of October 22, 2025 reinforces Israel’s obligation to ensure unhindered humanitarian access and condemns aid models, including the GHF, that fail to alleviate suffering,” said Joan Tubau.

MSF is calling on Israel, the US, and all actors of influence to ensure that aid is non-militarized, accessible and built on independence, impartiality, neutrality, and humanity. Humanitarian assistance must be able to reach all civilians in safety, based on vulnerability and need, wherever they choose to reside, and at scale.

-MSF

*Names of patients have been changed to protect identity

TESTIMONIES

“What sent me there was only the need for a loaf of bread. I went knowing that my life was in danger”

Saad Hussein

“I am from southern Rafah. Neither our grandfather nor the many displaced people before us lived through this. So many homes were destroyed. Everyone was displaced. We were living in the Iqlimi area, but with the famine and everything that was happening, we were forced to leave. We have children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. We had to take whatever we could because nothing was available. We were forced to go to the American aid distribution points.

We had no clean food, no clean clothes, no clean bathrooms. Nothing was clean. We did not eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We would bring lentils from the community kitchen and survive on them until the next day. My mother, my brothers, my brother’s six orphaned children, my brother’s wife, me, my mother, and my father. God is with us and with them.

We thought it would be like normal humanitarian aid. We thought they would respect us and treat us with dignity, but we found no respect and no dignity. We found humiliation and abuse. Many women, young men, and girls—so many, so many, so many— were humiliated and degraded. I said, ‘if I go to the distribution point, I may not come back alive.’ What sent me there was only the need for a loaf of bread. I went knowing that my life was in danger. I went as if carrying my own shroud with me.

As soon as we arrived, people were piled on top of each other. They opened fire on us. I saw humiliation and abuse, deaths and injuries. The Americans were there and the Israeli army was shooting. So many children torn apart, very young children who were running. I saw it. The area was huge.  As soon as you arrived at the aid point, you would find people on top of each other, hitting each other, someone trying to grab a box, someone carrying a knife. Everyone was striking each other. These were horrific scenes. If it had not been for our need for bread, I would have never gone there.

I was known around there. When someone was injured inside the aid area and the ambulance still had not arrived, I would go alone and bring back the dead and injured using my cart. I would take them to the Red Cross and I would return immediately. I did this again and again.

We used to tell the women, ‘going to the aid points is dangerous.’ But they would answer, ‘If it was not for hunger and the children, we would never have gone there.’ Hunger: that is what made us go.”

“Even if it meant death, I had to go bring food” 

Neama Awad

“I am from Miraj, originally from Rafah. Everything was destroyed. The occupation came near us. They were shooting at our children and here too we are displaced. I only wish to return home. Honestly, my situation is very bad. I am sick, and my husband is sick.

I went looking for a loaf of bread. I went walking as I don’t even have one shekel for transportation. One day people came and said, ‘go to the aid point in Al-Tina to get food.’ I said I would go. I wanted to bring food for my children. There was no food, nothing. We became skin and bones. I went to the aid distribution because we had no support at home – no flour, no food, no aid reaching us, not even a loaf of bread.

What could I do? I went to the distribution point against my will. A little flour, rice, pasta — we took whatever we could. Then onions too. We were happy afterwards. Potatoes and sheep too. They would make us sit on the ground, then force us to get up. Sometimes they would suddenly tell us to leave while we were sitting.

Terrible things happened. We risked our lives. A bomb hit my leg while I was walking and blood was pouring from it. Another time in Al-Shakoush area, I got injured in my leg again. They fired tear gas at us. I could not see while walking. A woman helped me onto a cart and poured water on my face, but the pain got worse. We went through extremely difficult days. We saw martyrs lying on carts and on stretchers – so many young men, women, though most were young men. Some were wounded in their legs, walking while blood poured from them.

Even if it meant death, I had to collect food. Even now I leave the house searching for food. Right now, I have no flour, nothing at all. My son was also injured. Everything is difficult. We leave home saying, ‘oh God… please let us survive this catastrophe’. We say goodbye before leaving.

It was terrifying, there was gunfire everywhere. You know that the Israeli army is at the aid point. There were also foreigners there, watching over the area. The army was firing live ammunition.

Honestly, I was afraid. But I took the risk and thought just let me get food this time and return. I didn’t want to go anymore, but hunger forced me to go. When I saw my relatives and other women going, I went with them. Even now it is still difficult. There is still gunfire and shooting from above.”