US-Backed Gaza Aid Organisation Accuses Hamas of Killing Staff

The foundation has called on the international community to immediately condemn Hamas for the attack and continued threats against its staff.

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The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed aid group established to supplant the aid work of the United Nations, has accused Hamas of killing five staff members and wounding multiple others in an attack on a bus en route to a food distribution centre. The organisation stated that a bus carrying more than two dozen Palestinians was “brutally attacked” while travelling to a distribution centre west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

According to the foundation, at least five people were killed and there were multiple injuries, with fears that some staff members had been taken captive. “We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms. These were aid workers. Humanitarians, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others,” the foundation said. “Our hearts are broken and our thoughts and prayers are with every victim, every family, and every person still unaccounted for.”

The organisation accused Hamas of making “direct threats” against its operations and claimed that the attack “did not happen in a vacuum”. “For days, Hamas has openly threatened our team, our aid workers, and the civilians who receive aid from us. These threats were met with silence,” the foundation said. “Tonight the world must see this for what it is: an attack on humanity.”

Hamas, which governs Gaza, has not immediately commented on the claims. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, led by Johnnie Moore, an evangelical Christian who advised US President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has been mired in controversy since beginning operations on May 27. The UN and aid groups have boycotted the foundation over concerns that it does not meet basic humanitarian standards and is not independent of Israel.

The foundation’s operations have been marked by violence, with over 220 Palestinians killed while seeking aid since it began operations, according to Gaza health authorities. On Wednesday, 57 people were killed and more than 363 injured as they tried to access aid at the foundation’s distribution sites in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The foundation has called on the international community to immediately condemn Hamas for the attack and continued threats against its staff.

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