The Gaza Strip has been cut off from aid supplies for over two months – the humanitarian situation is catastrophic.

Even before the official presentation of a new plan for the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip, the initiative is facing massive criticism. The United Nations and numerous aid organizations have rejected the proposal of the newly founded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as impractical and dangerous. According to a media report, the United Arab Emirates also considers the strategy unsuitable and refuses to fund it. The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, however, assures that several partners are already on board and that the distribution of food, water, and medicine will begin soon.

Recently, more and more details of the GHF proposal have been revealed. The foundation intends to distribute aid to the Palestinians via four logistics centers in the sealed-off coastal strip, bypassing Hamas's reach. Private security guards will secure the routes and distribution centers, but Israeli soldiers will not be involved in the distribution. According to Huckabee, the development of the plan was initiated by US President Donald Trump and is supported by the Israeli government.

However, according to a media report, the United Arab Emirates does not want to finance the new plan to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip. The Emirates rejected an Israeli request to do so, the Times of Israel reported, citing a senior official familiar with the matter.

According to the report, the head of the Israeli agency responsible for Palestinian affairs (COGAT), Major General Ghassan Alian, and the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, recently traveled to the Gulf state to request support from the United Arab Emirates' Minister of International Cooperation, Reem Al Hashimi. According to the Times of Israel report, however, she declined, arguing that the plan was not suitable for resolving the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The rejection from the United Arab Emirates is a massive setback for the initiative. According to media reports, Israel had hoped to bring other countries and international organizations on board with the Gulf state's funding commitment. The GHF had originally planned to go public with its proposal this week, the Times of Israel reported, citing a Western diplomat. However, due to a lack of international support, the announcement has been postponed.

For more than two months, the Israeli military has stopped allowing aid shipments into the Gaza Strip. The armed forces accuse the terrorist organization Hamas of selling the aid at inflated prices to the suffering population and using the proceeds to pay for its fighters and weapons.

The humanitarian situation in the region is catastrophic. There is a shortage of food, drinking water, medicine, and everyday necessities. International aid organizations are urgently warning of growing famine.

The children's charity UNICEF considers the foundation's plans to take over humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip dangerous. If supplies are distributed only at specific distribution centers, as announced, civilians en route could be caught in the crossfire of the war, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in Geneva.

Elder warned that elderly, disabled children, the sick, and the injured would not be able to reach the distribution centers at all. "As a consequence of this plan, the likelihood of even more children dying and being injured, or being exposed to even greater risks, increases," he said.

The concept of the foundation, which only existed since the end of January, is largely identical to the Israeli government's previously announced plan, two UN sources, who asked not to be identified, told the German Press Agency. Israel's plan had also previously been rejected by UN organizations. "The plan does not meet the minimum requirements for humanitarian work," UN Emergency Relief spokesperson Jens Laerke emphasized.

US Ambassador Huckabee, however, stated that this was not an Israeli plan, but an initiative initiated by US President Trump. However, the Israeli government supported the proposal. "Humanitarian aid to Gaza is very important to them, but they also want to ensure that Hamas does not steal the aid," he said at a press briefing outside the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

According to Huckabee, several partners have already pledged their support for the new humanitarian aid distribution system, although he declined to provide details. The US ambassador acknowledged that implementing the plan will be difficult. "It won't be perfect—especially not at the beginning. It's a logistical challenge," Huckabee said. However, he dismissed the security concerns raised by the UN: "The greatest danger is that people will starve. The danger is doing nothing."