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Famine has officially been declared in parts of Gaza by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Amid the fact that half a million Gazans are facing famine, pressure is mounting from various parties to dissolve the controversial aid distribution site, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, or GHF.
This time, the demand is local.
The Council for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based nonprofit legal and advocacy organization, recently called on the attorney general of Delaware, Kathy Jennings, to investigate and revoke the corporate charter of the United States- and Israeli-backed GHF, which is incorporated in the state.
In its letter, the council cites the foundation’s complicity in “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
As of July 31, 2025, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food in Gaza, 859 of them in the vicinity of the four GHF sites operating in southern Gaza, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR. “Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli forces,” the report says. The GHF began operating in Gaza in late May.
A recent report brought to light by UN experts, including Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, revealed cases of forced disappearances of Palestinians seeking food at GHF sites as well.
The foundation’s hubs have been called a “sadistic death trap.”
The US and the GHF have been pressuring the UN to collaborate with their aid operations, but OHCHR has resisted so far, citing its principle of not working with government militaries in humanitarian operations. GHF hubs are secured by the Israel Defense Forces.
“There are certain obligations on charitable organizations; if they’re truly pursuing charitable ends, then they shouldn’t be acting in a way that is furthering serious violations of international law,” Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the council, told PassBlue.
“When you have something that is attracting concern and warnings from so many different actors about an organization that’s chartered in your jurisdiction, and those who have the expertise in this area are saying that it’s harming, not helping, you really need to examine that,” Gallagher added.
Over the last few months, the Council for Constitutional Rights has issued multiple public warnings about GHF’s violations of international law and has recently sued the Trump administration for failing to comply with the council’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information on US funding for the GHF. The organization has refused to say publicly who is backing its operations, although the US State Department has approved a $30 million grant that the US says Israel will match.
Demands for inquiry into GHF
The council is now calling for a nationwide campaign to demand that the Delaware attorney general investigate GHF.
The council’s demands echo those made by a local group, Delawareans for Palestinian Human Rights (DPHR). Elizabeth West, a member of the group’s leadership team, said there was an “outpouring of outrage” from people in the area, 400 of whom, including organizations, signed DPHR’s letter to Jennings, demanding that she dissolve the GHF.
“She has the right and she has the responsibility, and our hope is that she will act eventually,” West added.
PassBlue contacted Jennings’ office and received an email response saying that “While the Delaware DOJ [Department of Justice] does not have traditional foreign policy jurisdiction, the Attorney General believes that it is time for the United States and Israel to end the violence and relieve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
The response noted that to review a revocation request, the attorney general’s office would require a judgment, order, conviction, guilty plea or settlement agreement from a court that “the Delaware entity has been used to engage in a sustained course of serious statutory violations, including, in this instance, alleged criminal activity.”
West said that DPHR has not heard back from Jennings’ office, while Gallagher noted that the council is talking with the attorney general’s office to understand the required grounds for an investigation.
This summer, the GHF faced the dissolution of its incorporation in Switzerland when the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations ordered its closure for failing to fulfill legal obligations.
A week after the Swiss order, reports revealed that the US government waived several antiterrorism and antifraud safeguards in its $30 million funding to GHF. It is unclear how much the US has disbursed so far to the organization.
PassBlue contacted the GHF and the US State Department for comment, but did not receive a response. PassBlue also did not receive a reply from Danny Danon, the ambassador of Israel to the UN.
Israel has been slow-walking most UN supplies of aid into Gaza for months and, through its role in backing GHF, Israel has been accused of restricting aid to only south Gaza, leaving Palestinians no choice but to risk their lives for the small boxes of food from the hubs, some of which have been reported to be pest-infested or contaminated.
In July, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) joined 200 organizations calling for the immediate closure of GHF, stating that “MSF medical teams have noticed a stark increase in the number of patients with gunshot wounds following frequent violence and attacks at and around the aid distribution sites.”
A former contractor for the GHF told the BBC that he witnessed “brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary force against a civilian population, an unarmed, starving population.”
Squid Game
Khaled al-Qershali, a journalist in Gaza, said that he has witnessed Israeli shootings and bombardment at GHF sites when he went to get aid.
“The sites are open for less than an hour each day,” he told PassBlue through WhatsApp messages. “People would be near the sites hours before because the first to come would have higher chances of getting aid. While people are in the sites taking aid, the Israeli occupation forces would start shooting at the sky, and often target civilians.”
“These distribution points are similar to Squid Game,” al-Qershali added, referring to the popular Korean thriller series in which contestants risk their lives to play children’s games for money.
Originally backed by Israel, the GHF contends its distribution method is the only way to deliver aid into Gaza without Hamas, the militia, stealing it. But Israel has not provided proof of this claim, and even Israeli military officials say Hamas has not been systematically looting aid.
Just days before the GHF started operating on May 27, its executive director, Jake Wood, resigned, citing that GHS did not adhere to “humanitarian principles” of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. He was succeeded by John Acree, a former USAID manager. Johnnie Moore, an evangelical leader and a member of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board during his first term, became executive chairman. Moore has denounced all criticism against GHF and defended Israel and its military.
Amid the overwhelming data and images of starving children in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that there is “no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza” and called the IPC declaration of famine “an outright lie.”
In the UN Security Council on Aug. 26, Dorothy Shea, the acting representative for the US mission at the UN, said that the new IPC report declaring famine in parts of Gaza did not meet the standards of “credibility and integrity.”
After the Council meeting, 14 of its 15 members — except for the US — issued a statement saying, “We express our profound alarm and distress at the IPC data on Gaza, published last Friday. It clearly and unequivocally confirms Famine in the Gaza Governorate. We trust the IPC’s work and methodology.” In a rare move, even China and Russia joined the remarks.
This week, the Israeli army announced that it is opening two more GHF sites and closing one in Gaza, totaling five sites. At the same time, the UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, noted on Aug. 29 the Israeli announcement that the daily tactical pauses for humanitarian aid deliveries (by the UN and its partners) “have been discontinued in Gaza City — and that is an area that Israel now classifies as a ‘dangerous combat zone.’”
The suspension, he added, “will further threaten people’s lives and aid workers’ ability to support people.”