GHF announces Hamas murdered 12 aid staff, tortured others during Gaza relief efforts

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) commissioned to distribute aid in Gaza announced on Sunday that 12 of its local staff have been murdered, and others have been tortured.

The U.S. and Israeli-backed NGO revealed in their update that Hamas had placed bounties on American security workers and that 12 local staff members had been killed by the terror group.

“Hamas has placed bounties on both our American security personnel and Palestinian aid workers, offering cash rewards to anyone who injures or kills them,” they said in a statement.

Executive Chairman of the GHF, Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that Gaza is “the single most complex humanitarian environment in many years.”

Previously, when UNWRA had responsibility for food distribution in the Strip, the Hamas terror group would routinely loot supplies and sell them on the black market to fund their operations. President Trump sought a solution that would facilitate the distribution of aid while circumventing Hamas, and invited Moore to head up the operation. 

“He made the point that Hamas was making it very difficult to get help to the Palestinian people. He was determined to fix that,” Moore said, speaking of Trump’s decision. 

When asked why he agreed to lead such a complex and dangerous initiative, Moore replied, “It’s very simple: because I'm a Christian. These people deserve to be fed, and they deserve to be fed in a way that doesn't allow these bad actors to further oppress them.”

Operated by a U.S. security contractor with IDF perimeter protection, the independent aid group began delivering food directly to Palestinian civilians in late May, and has been embattled not only by Hamas but also a campaign to discredit the organization. Nevertheless, the GHF has managed to distribute a phenomenal amount of food.

“In the very first week of operations, [GHF] was able to deliver seven million meals in eight days, without a single security incident happening within the confines of the distribution center,” Moore relayed. GHF delivered more than 1.1 million meals on June 8 alone, surpassing 10 million total meals distributed in just over one week. However, successful aid distribution to Gazan civilians runs contrary to the strategy of Hamas, and GHF efforts have met serious opposition.

“Certain nefarious actors decided to issue a global disinformation campaign, to discredit the effort, when the exact opposite should have been happening,” said Moore. “Everybody should have been celebrating what was going ahead.”

Now the independent aid organization is dealing with the extreme violence of Hamas operatives determined to stop the flow of aid and intimidate all who are trying to help.

“By the way, some very brave Gazans have helped distribute food to people,” Moore revealed.

“The targets of Hamas’ brutality are heroes who are simply trying to feed the people of Gaza in the middle of a war,” the GHF said in their statement about the murders.

“Our US security personnel – some of America’s most elite and decorated veterans – are on the ground to protect people. And our local staff, who keep these operations running, have already paid the ultimate price: 12 murdered, others tortured, and now more threats emerging by the day,” the statement continued.

The aid group added that in recent days, Hamas had “pre-positioned armed operatives near humanitarian zones in an effort to disrupt the only functioning aid delivery system in Gaza.”

Last week the GHF urged the UN to “publicly condemn the targeting of humanitarian workers in Gaza” and to partner with the aid group to develop a new system to get food “straight to Palestinian families,” in a letter from Rev. Johnnie Moore to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.