The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started delivering aid to civilians in Gaza at the end of May after aid, including food and medical supplies, was blocked from entering for almost three months by Israel.
Aid is much needed as the entire population is at risk of famine and one in five people in Gaza are facing starvation according to the United Nations (UN).
However, there is criticism that the delivery of aid by GHF politicises and militarises aid.
Who is behind the GHF?
The Israeli government developed the plan for the GHF when it was initially touted at the start of 2025, but the UN strongly rejected it.
But amid weeks of no aid entering the enclave due to Israel blocking access, the United States backed the newly created GHF to oversee aid distribution.
The foundation's aid is overseen by Israeli troops before being delivered by contracted US security personnel.
A source familiar with the plan told Reuters the foundation had received more than US$100 million ($155 million) in commitments ahead of beginning operation, but it was not immediately clear where the money was coming from.
It has since been formed and started delivering aid on 26 May.
How aid has historically been delivered around the world
Mudasser Siddiqui, deputy CEO of humanitarian organisation Plan International Australia, told SBS News local organisations usually led the response to humanitarian situations on the ground.
Those groups are supported by international organisations such as Plan International, while overall coordination was done by the UN.
"This makes sure there is coordination with the aid community as well as with the government and any other actors on the ground," he said.
Siddiqui said the creation of a separate model completely disregards the well-established processes and procedures that already exist.
"The existing architecture of [humanitarian aid] has decades of experience delivering assistance across the globe, including in occupied Palestinian territories over the decades to communities and people in need," he said.
"This is unprecedented in this form, the removing of UN and other international and national actors has not happened before."
How had aid previously been delivered in Gaza?
Israel stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on 2 March after accusing Hamas of stealing aid, which the Palestinian militants deny.
At that point, the Israeli government also demanded the release of all remaining hostages taken during the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Earlier in the conflict, the UN had provided aid to the region under challenging circumstances.
The UN described its humanitarian operation in Gaza as opportunistic — facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and looting by armed gangs.
Mudasser Siddiqui from Plan International Australia says well-established humanitarian structures have been utilised around the world, and there was no need for a new model. Source: Supplied
The UN has said its aid distribution system worked and that this was particularly proven during a two-month ceasefire, which was abandoned by Israel in mid-March.
Israel would first inspect and approve aid before it was dropped off on the Gaza side of the border, where it was picked up by the UN and distributed.
How does GHF operate?
The foundation is initially operating from four distribution sites — considerably fewer than the 400 points the UN had distributed aid from before Israel's blockade.
It is understood that Israeli military personnel oversee the supplies until they are handed over to US security personnel to distribute in Gaza.
Israel has agreed to expand the number of distribution sites and explore ways to deliver aid to civilians who are unable to reach a distribution site, the foundation has stated.
While the foundation has faced criticism from humanitarian groups for its limited reach and nature of the supplies it is set to provide, Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the US-based Tufts University, said it was "better than nothing".
De Waal, who writes on humanitarian issues and conflict, said the strategy behind the plan appeared to be aimed at providing just enough aid to Gaza's civilian population in an attempt to more precisely target Hamas and its operatives with starvation.
Concerns about aid delivery
It is understood that the plan GHF is delivering would only allow aid to feed around 60 per cent of the estimated Gaza population.
The UN says the US-backed distribution plan does not meet its long-held principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said such a model forces further displacement.
"It exposes thousands of people to harm ... It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza, while leaving other dire needs unmet. It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip," he said.
Siddiqui said the geographical reach of the four hubs was limited, as was the actual supply being provided to people in need.
Furthermore, relying on this delivery model also provided little oversight of what was happening in Gaza.
Security concerns
There were numerous reports of security issues at the aid hubs in the first week of their operation.
In one incident, which GHF and the Israeli military have denied occurred, it was reported that 31 Palestinians died as a result of gunfire near one of the aid hubs.
Siddiqui said the way aid was being delivered took "no regard for the fact that this is an active conflict zone and movement of people will expose them, which is what we are seeing right now".
"This is an example of why we need experienced entities to manage the delivery rather than replacing them with this kind of limited scheme, because the communities are being asked to walk for hours to these sites and the necessary crowd management may not be there," he said.
Aid groups want access
Siddiqui said there were almost 3,000 trucks waiting at the border to Gaza, full of supplies that could aid Palestinian civilians.
"We would like to move over and provide assistance to our partners who are right on the ground and are well connected and well aware of where the people in need go, and provide that assistance to them, they are just a few kilometres away," he said.
"Our approaches have been basically restricted while the Israeli government experiments with this new scheme."
He said it was not that humanitarian groups were unwilling to provide assistance, but that they needed to be allowed access into Gaza.
— Additional reporting by Reuters
