A Trojan Horse for Ethnic Cleansing: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

The latest stage of Israel-US genocide presents itself as humanitarian aid. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a Trojan horse aid distributor backed by the US and reportedly financed by the Israeli ‘defense establishment’, has been condemned by aid agencies after the gunning down of starving civilians. According to Al Jazeera, in the week since its launch, Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinians seeking aid in the vicinity of GHF distribution sites.

On 1 June, Israeli forces welcomed the starving Palestinians with open firearms, killing or injuring at least 220 people. The attacks took place just one day after Trump mediator Steve Witkoff rejected Hamas’ response to the US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire. In doing so, Witkoff has given Israel carte blanche permission to intensify its violence in Gaza further. For this reason, the incident has been called the “Witkoff Massacre”.

Euro-Med interviewed eyewitnesses who said that gunfire was launched by an Israeli quadcopter and tanks while US security forces sprayed tear gas, noting also that “Israeli army snipers deliberately targeted civilians with direct gunfire, most to the head, with no apparent threat to Israeli forces”.

Initially, some critics thought the GHF was simply an incompetent aid supplier. One speaker on Inside Story described the distribution as “an idiotic plan”, saying that it was inevitable that there would be chaos when tens of thousands of starving people are directed to a high-risk area. However, as the week has gone on, and more Palestinian lives are lost, it is abundantly clear that the aid is not a mere ad hoc decision by the US.

Even before the massacres, the GHF was a deeply troubling organisation. Anything supported by Netanyahu, who has explicitly vowed to “take control of all areas of Gaza”, should be looked at with unrelenting suspicion. When considering Israel’s objective, it is clear that the GHF was always a calculated scheme aimed at promoting the erasure of a people.

Nakba 2.0

The ongoing ethnic cleansing of North Gaza is in many ways a more technologically sophisticated repeat of the 1948 Nakba, one of the most significant forced displacements in modern history. Alex Lo has rightly described Israel’s current onslaught as “one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity”. In his study of the ethnic cleansing that ushered in the founding of the Israeli state, historian Ilan Pappe notes that Zionists forcibly expelled one million people from their homes. Over a period of six months, half of Palestine’s native population was uprooted. Five hundred eighty-one villages were destroyed, and eleven urban areas were emptied of their inhabitants. The army used tactics such as poisoning the water supply with typhoid and burning civilians out of their homes.

The concept of the “empty land myth” is vital when considering both the Nakba and the current erasure of North Gaza. In his 2024 analysis, Erasing History, philosopher Jason Stanley discusses how the myth of an empty land legitimises colonialist practices:

“Colonialism consists of myths and representations that [ …] cast the colonised land as empty, or at the very least, unused.”

Zionism’s Narratives

Zionist self-preservation has historically depended on promoting a narrative that portrays the land they took as lacking in established civilisation. One way that Zionists achieve this is by dehumanising the inhabitants and depicting them as primitive. In comparison to UNWRA’s practice of going out among the population to provide aid, the GHF approach of stationary distribution sites, where Palestinians are forced into caged queues in order to scramble for insufficient provisions, is a stark example of this dehumanisation in action.

Another element in the Zionist playbook is forcing the inhabitants from the land and then rewriting history to suggest that the indigenous people willingly abandoned the area. According to Stanley, after the Nakba, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, described Palestine as having been a “wasted and deserted land”. The prime minister did not recite how Zionists planted landmines to deter any Palestinians from returning home.

Similar tactics are used by Zionists today. Settler colonialism consists of claims that emphasise the goal to civilise a land that they deem barbaric. Therefore, by suggesting all civilians travel to Rafah for aid, it allows Israel to seize North Gaza, branding the land as devoid of civilians and occupied only by the Palestinian political and military organisation Hamas. Meanwhile, the Israeli army is ensuring that North Gaza is unliveable. Israeli military excavators are razing the area, eradicating all infrastructure. In recent days, Israel demolished the only kidney dialysis centre in Gaza.

Stanley asserts that, “Colonizers justify their project by emphasizing its ostensible civilizing mission, which they claim stands to deliver benefits for the colonized in exchange for their land and resources”. On the May 27 broadcast, Netanyahu vowed to create “a sterile zone in the south of Gaza where the entire population can move for its protection”. Note the cleansing connotations of “sterile”.

Writing in 2006, Pappe discusses how those who played an active role in the 1947-1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine were never held accountable for their war crimes. Referring to contemporary law, he wrote, “Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity, and the people who perpetrate it are considered criminals to be brought before special tribunals”.

Yet in 2025, Netanyahu continues to carry out what Amnesty International calls a “live-streamed genocide”. It is grim to realise that, as a society, we have made little progress in confronting the displacement and murderous campaign against an entire people. The Euro-Med calls for all states and relevant actors to exert maximum pressure on Israel to prevent it from undermining the role of UN agencies in delivering aid “for over 2.2 million Palestinians facing death and starvation”. Let us form a global movement that refuses to normalise genocide.