The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced Monday that it has completed its vital food‑assistance mission in the Gaza Strip, having delivered more than 187 million free meals to civilians during its tenure. Backed by both the U.S. and Israeli governments, the GHF was conceived as an alternative to the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), amid concerns over aid diversion and delays.
Launched in February 2025, GHF’s stated goal was to “meet an urgent need, prove that a new approach could succeed where others had failed, and ultimately hand off that success to the broader international community,” said Executive Director John Acree. The group operated in partnership with the newly created Civil‑Military Coordination Center (CMCC)—a U.S.‑led multination effort that now includes 21 countries and 20 organizations, coordinating humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
GHF emphasized that no one of its trucks was looted, and no food boxes were reported diverted—claims aimed at highlighting transparency and accountability in the midst of widespread criticism directed at other aid efforts for corruption or ‘aid diversion.’ The group pioneered a secured, site‑based distribution model, which allegedly bypassed bottlenecks, corruption, and interruptions that had plagued earlier operations.
While the mission is now winding down, GHF said it has developed a “Blueprint for Doing It Better,” outlining how other humanitarian organizations can adopt their fast‑response, community‑trust‑based, data‑driven model. The report recommends combining speed, nimbleness, local trust, and enhanced data processing to deliver aid with “dignity, fairness, and compassion.”
Critics of GHF, however, remain, citing concern that bypassing the UN and traditional humanitarian channels allowed the Israeli government disproportionate control over aid delivery, and raised questions about the conditions under which distribution hubs operated. Despite the contention, GHF’s leadership expressed hope that the CMCC and the broader humanitarian community will take lessons from their experiment and extend the model across Gaza and beyond.
