General Discussion

Gaza aid delivery project described as neutral and run by American contractors was conceived by several Israelis, including businessmen with close links to the government, raising concerns over transparency and neutrality, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is a US- and Israel-backed aid organization that was established to manage a new model for distributing humanitarian aid in the Strip in a manner that does not allow its diversion by Hamas.

It was built in close coordination with Israel amid mounting mistrust between Jerusalem and UN-backed aid groups that have been operating in the Strip to date, but the organization and US officials have maintained that it is an independent and neutral body.

However, the NYT report revealed that the project wasn’t simply built in coordination with Israel, but is “an Israeli brainchild.”

Key players in the new plan included venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, who was not in the military, Yotam HaCohen, a strategic consultant who joined the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and later became an aide to the prime minister’s military secretary Brig. Gen. Roman Gofman, and Liran Tancman, a tech investor also affiliated with COGAT.

According to a separate Haaretz report published Sunday, S.R.S entered Gaza without any prior security clearance from the Shin Bet as is the procedure. Gofman reportedly handpicked S.R.S. in a secretive process that bypassed standard procedures and excluded key defense bodies, including the Shin Bet, the IDF, and the Defense Ministry.

Unclear origins, mysterious funding

Another key revelation of The New York Times report was that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was registered in the US, not Switzerland, as previously believed.

Two entities – GHF and the private security firm S.R.S. – were registered in November 2024 by associates of Reilly.

GHF, led by Jake Wood, will supposedly raise funds and hire S.R.S. to secure food distribution. Though Wood said the two groups now operate independently, they were registered by the same US lawyer and shared a spokeswoman until recently.