What is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?

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A US-backed aid group began giving out food in Gaza on Tuesday but chaotic scenes unfolded as thousands of hungry people rushed towards a distribution centre and Israeli security forces reportedly fired warning shots.

The start of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's operations comes nearly three months after Israel imposed a blockade on the Palestinian territory, which is now at risk of widespread famine. Here is a look at the foundation and the surrounding controversy.

What is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?

Israel and the US have long claimed that they cannot responsibly deliver food aid to Gaza because Hamas loots and hoards it for its fighters or extorts high prices from locals by selling it on. World Food Programme chief Cindy McCain disputed this claim on Sunday.

Israel has also blocked the UN from most aid deliveries and thrown up obstacles to the meagre amounts it can still get into Gaza.

To boost aid deliveries in a way Israel and the US envision cutting out Hamas, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was created with both countries' backing, though it is a non-government entity.

It was registered in Geneva in February but has no known offices or representatives in the unofficial capital of the humanitarian world. It has no contact phone number or website.

How does it operate?

The GHF is establishing what it calls secure distribution sites, each built to serve 300,000 people. These are being protected by US private security contractors.

The Israeli army said that two of the group's distribution centres located in Tel Al Sultan and the Morag Corridor in the Rafah area began operating on Tuesday.

The concept is that only “verified” Palestinian recipients of aid can come to these hubs to receive family rations.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said about 8,000 boxes containing the equivalent of 462,000 meals had been distributed so far.

On the first day of operations, thousands of people rushed into a new aid distribution centre in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Gunfire rang out. It was unclear who fired, but videos posted on social media showed crowds scattering as what could have been warning shots were heard.

“They are hard to watch, these pictures. I can tell you that obviously we've just seen the videos. We don't have any independent confirmation of what happened at these distribution points, as we're not there and we're not involved,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

The GHF's former executive director, Jake Wood, announced his resignation on Sunday, saying it was impossible to do his job in line with humanitarian principles.

What is the criticism?

The UN and several aid agencies have criticised the GHF. The UN said it would have no involvement in its operations.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the organisation “does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality, independence”.

Critics say the GHF is contravening humanitarian principles by forcing people to move to distribution sites to get food, particularly given the fact most Gazans have been repeatedly displaced since the start of the war.

Critics have also questioned the determination of the location of the distribution points, especially in light of Israel's plans for the “conquest” of Gaza and the movement of its population.

“Aid that is used to mask continuing violence is not aid, it is in fact humanitarian cover for a military strategy of control and dispossession," a group of NGOs, including ActionAid, said in a statement this month.

Last week, Swiss rights watchdog TRIAL International criticised the use of private security companies which it said led to a “risky militarisation of aid”.

Still, other groups and people have argued that the GHF is the best of several bad options, with the goal of getting food to those who need it justifying the means.

"The bottom line is, the real story here is that the aid is moving through," Ms Bruce told reporters. "It's not surprising that there might be a few issues involved. But the good news is that those seeking to get aid to the people of Gaza, which is not Hamas, have succeeded."

A senior Trump administration official said GHF should be commended for launching a project to deliver food aid.

"GHF is a threat to Hamas’s longstanding system of looting the assistance intended for the people of Gaza," the official said. "The UN and other aid agencies were wrong to criticise. Aid is getting to the people in need, and through their secure distribution system, Israel is kept safe and Hamas empty-handed."