By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -The head of a U.S.-backed private humanitarian organization that is tasked with distributing aid in Gaza using an Israeli-initiated plan resigned on Sunday.
Jake Wood, a former U.S. Marine and the executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said in a statement that he resigned because the organization could not adhere “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”
Wood’s statement did not provide more details and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israeli, Palestinian, U.S. and U.N. officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation – a quarter of the population in the enclave where Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have been at war since October 2023.
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies, and is blocking humanitarian deliveries to Gaza until Hamas releases all remaining hostages taken in its attack on Israel.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created in February, has been highly criticized by the United Nations, whose officials have said the foundation’s aid distribution plans would only foment forced relocation of Palestinians and more violence.
That plan, which had been set to begin by the end of May, was initiated by Israel and involves private companies – instead of the U.N. and aid groups who have handled Palestinian aid for decades – transporting aid into Gaza to a limited number of so-called secure distribution sites, which Israel said would be in Gaza’s south.
Wood earlier this month wrote a letter to Israel, saying the foundation would not share any personally identifiable information of aid recipients with Israel.
Wood also asked Israel to facilitate the flow of enough aid “using existing modalities” until the foundation’s infrastructure is fully operational. He wrote that was essential to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian pressure and ease pressure on the distribution sites during the foundation’s first days of operation.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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