The videos contradict mainstream media narratives suggesting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is not up to the task
Fresh video footage and photographs from the embattled Gaza Strip paint a vastly different portrait of the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the ground from mainstream media characterizations. They show smiling children and thankful adults accessing food from American aid workers without Hamas interference.
Since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opened its operations in February, access to food and other humanitarian supplies has been “much better,” according to one Gazan woman interviewed earlier this month at one of the aid group’s secure delivery sites. Other videos and pictures, some of which were exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, show smiling children requesting chocolate from aid workers and reacting excitedly when they learned it was the United States that provided the food.
“America!” one child proclaims in the video while forming a heart symbol with his hands. Another Gazan, asked how the situation has changed since the GHF’s arrival, says there has been “a big improvement.”
“In the past, I swear to God, I’d not find this,” the woman tells an interviewer in the video. “We can’t get this at all. Now we come here to collect and leave, and the aid workers here are helpful. The security, too, serve us well. We request, they provide. We collect what we need and leave.”
The video evidence stands in stark contrast to mainstream media reports about the GHF’s operations, many of which have advanced unfounded claims the aid group has killed civilians and fomented chaos on the ground. News outlets like the BBC and CBS, for instance, ran with false claims that aid workers committed “war crimes.” Eventually, GHF leaders revealed a disgruntled former contractor had fabricated documents and lied about the supposed killings.
The campaign against the GHF is largely a product of Hamas and a network of U.N.-affiliated NGOs, including the Hamas-linked UNRWA, according to an internal State Department cable the Free Beacon reviewed in July. The terror group demanded in ceasefire talks with the United States the GHF must end its operations as part of any hostage release agreement.
Testimonials gathered over the past several weeks suggest Gazan civilians feel much safer accessing aid at U.S. sites that are fortified against Hamas. The terror organization often steals aid administered by UNRWA and other U.N. agencies, then delivers it to senior terrorist officials and resells it on the black market at a much higher cost, according to evidence gathered by American oversight officials and Gazan witnesses on the ground.
The recent videos show children hugging the U.S. aid workers and cheering in open areas. The scene is significantly different from separate videos taken over the past year at U.N. distribution sites, where armed terrorists police the starving crowds.
“Excuse me, chocolate!” one child says in broken English while approaching a worker.
“I didn’t bring any today,” the worker replies, promising to bring sweets next time. “I didn’t know I was coming here!”
In one picture reviewed by the Free Beacon, an aid worker appears to distribute cooking oil to allow families to prepare their own meals.
The GHF has distributed more than 123 million meals as of Friday, with more than 1.5 million handed out across three distribution sites on Friday alone. The aid organization distributed six truckloads of potatoes and two trucks of onions at its sites throughout the day as part of a GHF-led pilot program to inject supplemental staples into Gaza, in addition to the ready-to-eat meals already provided.
“Our model has proven that reliable aid delivery is possible, but the need is far greater than any single organization can meet,” GHF executive director John Acree said in a Friday statement. “We stand ready to expand our operations and work hand-in-hand with other groups. The people of Gaza cannot wait—the answer is more aid, and together, we can deliver it.”
GHF employee Chapin Fay disclosed in an interview on Friday that Doctors Without Borders, which works closely with the United Nations, allegedly refused to treat 20 U.S. aid workers injured in a Hamas attack, instead leaving them to die.
“They were refused treatment,” Fay said, referring to an incident in which Hamas killed nine aid workers on a bus, with the remaining 20 being dropped off at Nasser Hospital, where Doctors Without Borders is active. “They weren’t let in and they were left to die in the courtyard.”
An international aid worker, meanwhile, filed a whistleblower complaint with the American government alleging “gross misconduct and misuse of humanitarian funds by the World Food Programme and other U.N. Agencies,” according to Fox News.
