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US Is Blocking a UN Text on Gaza as a Ceasefire May Occur

A box of food for Palestinians
The United States is so far unwilling to agree to a draft resolution proposed by the 10 elected members of the Security Council this week that aims to get more aid into Gaza as the population verges on famine, experts say. Here, a box of food doled out to Palestinians as part of a new humanitarian scheme that began this week, organized by a private foundation and led by the United States and Israel. EMMA DESOUZA/X

The United States is pulling all its weight to ensure there is no new United Nations resolution on Gaza, sources close to the negotiations on a draft text told PassBlue.

The Security Council is negotiating a text, led by the 10 elected members, calling for a ceasefire and returning the hostages as well as alleviating the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave. That includes providing aid groups more access into Gaza amid Israel’s recently invigorated military operations there. The text was sent on Wednesday night to the permanent Council members (Britain, China, France, Russia and the US). It does not mention Hamas, according to a diplomat.

Meanwhile, a new but controversial food-distribution project, carried out by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and endorsed by the US and Israel, started on Tuesday. In chaotic conditions, a few hubs are doling out small boxes of food, marked with a GHF logo, that are supposedly enough to feed 5.5 people for 3.5 days, the group says, but not noting a calorie count for each portion.

Back in the Security Council, diplomatic sources told PassBlue that there is no agreement on the draft text so far because the US does not want a new product about the war. If the resolution is vetoed, it could be sent to the General Assembly for a vote under the Uniting for Peace resolution.


The US mission to the UN said it cannot comment on “non-public diplomatic conversations.”

A temporary ceasefire agreement being handled by Steve Witkoff, US envoy to the Mideast, is reportedly underway. The plan would put a stay on military operations in Gaza and enable 10 hostages released in two batches. It also says that humanitarian aid would be delivered through channels that include the UN.

A US diplomat at the UN said that it is “inchoate” to link a potential pause in fighting to the UN draft resolution.

The Council last adopted a US-endorsed three-phase ceasefire resolution in June, but fighting continued in the enclave until Jan. 19, when Israel and Hamas agreed to sheath their swords after a pact was brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

Israel broke the ceasefire before the agreement could move to the next phase, when the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, launched airstrikes on Gaza overnight. At the same time, Israel blocked the UN and other humanitarian groups from delivering food, water, fuel and other essentials to the strip. Since Oct. 7, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in a war that the International Court of Justice said bore a resemblance to genocide.

The IDF have continued their military bombardments and blockade despite UN and other loud global calls for Israel to lift the siege.

“We are alarmed by Israel’s decision to suspend once again all goods and supplies, including life-saving humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip,” UN human rights experts said in a joint statement in early March. “The announcement followed a decision by the Israeli War Cabinet to break from the Gaza ceasefire agreement and calls by ministers to re-open the ‘gates of hell’ in the besieged enclave.”

The Council text focuses most strongly on the need for more humanitarian aid to be sent into Gaza, a diplomat said, especially as Israel is denying approval to the UN to truck food to its warehouses in the enclave, even after Israel opened one border crossing recently. The Israelis accuses the organization of allowing Hamas to divert aid once it gets inside Gaza. The UN denies the accusations and has asked for proof, but Israel has not complied.

To try to resolve the problem of alleged diversion by Hamas, Israel and the US are enabling the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — led by ex-US military and crisis-aid experts — to deliver food inside Gaza, bypassing UN operations and possible witnesses to atrocities. Yet, the plan has been contending with major criticism ever since news of its activities broke in early May. Problems worsened on May 25, when its top leadership unraveled two days before it started giving out food in southern Gaza. The GHF said it has distributed 8,000 boxes of staples since May 27 to people in the city of Rafah.

The distribution on Tuesday was chaotic. Reports described Gazans stampeding the first aid site and shootings by the IDF. The GHF told PassBlue in an email that it allowed Gazans to breach its security perimeter barrier to take aid safely and dissipate, but it denied that shots were fired. The IDF, however, said that it had fired “warning shots” to disperse the crowd.

An American company providing security for GHF, Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), told PassBlue in an email that the “deconfliction with IDF forces is an important component to ensuring the safety of GHF’s operations and, most importantly, the safety and dignity of the people of Gaza.” SRS was founded by Phil Reilly, an ex-CIA paramilitary officer.

The GHF said that the IDF are providing security on the perimeter of the distribution sites.

Stéphane Dujarric, the UN spokesperson, described videos from the initial GHF distribution point as “heart-breaking,” saying the UN continues to try to deliver aid under “extremely difficult circumstances,” with trucks stuck at loading zones just inside the Gaza border gate as Israel stalls or refuses clearances.

The World Food Program (WFP) said on May 28 that two Palestinians were killed after a crowd broke into its own warehouse in central Gaza, saying that “humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza.”

It is unclear how the GHF is paying for the boxes of food — mainly flour, lentils, biscuits and dry pasta but no fuel for cooking — to Gazans. It is also a mystery as to who is financing GHF. Many countries and large international aid groups, like the UN, denounce the GHF’s work, calling it militarized and the scheme “weaponized.” The group’s spokesperson told PassBlue on May 27 that it received “a significant donation from a Western European country and hopes to announce additional donor nation support soon.”

A specific assertion by the GHF that it received $100 million from a Western European country has been widely reported by the media, despite the foundation’s refusal to name the country. But diplomats in the European Union told PassBlue that the bloc is unaware of any member donating to GHF.

Germany, a Western European country, has been one of Israel’s strongest allies in the continent, yet even that relationship is fraying with new criticism of Israel by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. For the first time since Israel’s military operation in Gaza started, Merz said this week that he believes Israel has crossed the line regarding international humanitarian law.

A source in the EU mission to the UN told PassBlue that “Brussels/EU is adamantly against joining the mechanism [GHF] based on IHL principles.” Germany has also told PassBlue that it is not giving money to the foundation.

Germany and 23 other EU countries signed a joint donor statement on May 18 denouncing the GHF. “Israel’s security cabinet has reportedly approved a new model for delivering aid into Gaza, which the UN and our humanitarian partners cannot support,” the statement read in part. “They are clear that they will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles.”

An Israeli opposition leader, Avigdor Liberman, contended that his government is funding the GHF and keeping the engagement undercover from the Israeli people, who might be against their government buying food for Gaza.

“The money for humanitarian aid comes from the Mossad and the Ministry of Defense,” a translated post by Liberman on X read. “Hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of Israeli citizens.”

Just two days before the GHF entered Rafah, Jake Wood resigned as its chief executive. Wood, a Marine Corps veteran who founded Team Rubicon, a humanitarian aid entity, cited the impossibility of implementing GHF’s plans while upholding the “humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, humanity, and independence.”

The next day, the GHF named John Acree, a former director at USAID, interim executive director. Nate Mook, a former chief executive of the World Central Kitchen, a US charity, disassociated himself from the GHF a few weeks earlier, despite being listed as a board member in a leaked GHF document.

Mook told PassBlue that “I think someone added my name to the document.” The Washington Post reported that GHF’s chief operating officer, David Burke, also resigned last weekend. David Kohler, a Swiss lawyer who was on the GHF board, has left as well.

According to the GHF document, the other advisory and/or board members are Loik Henderson, a legal and business expert; Raisa Sheynberg, a vice president at Mastercard; Jonathan Foster, founder and managing director of Current Capital Partners; Bill Miller, a former US State Department official; and retired Lieut. Gen. Mark Schwartz, who previously served as the US security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The GHF spokesperson did not directly confirm if the above individuals are still affiliated with the organization.


We welcome your comments on this article.  What are your thoughts on the militarized aid program?

Damilola Banjo

Damilola Banjo is an award-winning staff reporter for PassBlue who has covered a wide range of topics, from Africa-centered stories to gender equality to UN peacekeeping and US-UN relations. She also oversees all video production for PassBlue. She was a Dag Hammarskjold fellow in 2023 and a Pulitzer Center postgraduate fellow in 2021. She was part of the BBC Africa team that produced the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Sex for Grades.” In addition, she worked for WFAE, an NPR affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Banjo has a master’s of science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

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US Is Blocking a UN Text on Gaza as a Ceasefire May Occur
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Dr Bilali Camara
Dr Bilali Camara
1 month ago

We are not surprised by the veto vote of the US because there is no difference between the Biden and Trump administration, therefore the holocauste will continue in Palestina!

Raymond Deane
Raymond Deane
1 month ago

“The United States is pulling all its weight to ensure there is no new United Nations resolution on Gaza…” There will be no justice in the world until the “permanent member/permanent veto” structure is dismantled. The US is the major obstacle to peace and justice in our world – not the only obstacle, but the most ruthless and destructive one.

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