(RNS) — After struggling for months to find partners to help them deliver aid to Gaza, the embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has picked up a collaborator — Samaritan’s Purse, the international Christian disaster relief organization headed by the Rev. Franklin Graham.
Since July 26, Samaritan’s Purse has sent eight relief flights for Gaza carrying 169 tons of supplemental food packets that have been distributed through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s four Gaza-based hubs. In addition, Samaritan’s Purse has sent a medical team of six nurses and paramedics to provide first aid treatment at these distribution sites, a spokesperson for the organization confirmed.
The GHF, a project of the Israeli government, staffed by U.S. security contractors and funded with $30 million in U.S. tax dollars, was created to displace the United Nations’ various humanitarian relief efforts, which Israel has prevented from functioning.
RELATED: ‘Look What You’ve Done!’—NC Woman Praises God for Blessings Via Samaritan’s Purse
But since the GHF began its operations in mid-May, more than 1,400 unarmed Palestinian civilians have reportedly been killed by Israel Defense Forces while seeking food aid at or near the GHF distribution sites, known as Safe Distribution Hubs, located in remote militarized zones.
Aid groups and governments around the world have condemned the operation and accused it of violating humanitarian standards and putting civilians at risk at a time when the region is experiencing mass starvation.
The GHF’s chairman, the Rev. Johnnie Moore, a prominent evangelical and a onetime faith adviser to President Donald Trump, has pleaded with various international aid groups to join the effort. Many faith-based aid groups, such as Catholic Relief Services, have expressed deep skepticism of GHF and its methods and have rejected collaborations with it.
FILE – Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the U.S.-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
But Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan’s Purse, said his organization, based in North Carolina, said he was satisfied with GHF’s operations.
“I visited several Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites and was impressed with how they were secured and the professionalism of the GHF staff,” Isaacs said. “They are working in a very difficult situation, and I am grateful that Samaritan’s Purse has the opportunity to collaborate with GHF and other partners. We want to help as many people as we can.”
Israel’s nearly two-year war of retribution against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has killed 62,000 people and earned it international censure across the world, with leading human rights organizations concluding that Israel is engaged in a genocide.
In early March, Israel cut off all aid for Gaza, a move that Israeli officials said was taken to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire talks. That cutoff ended in May, when the GHF began a limited distribution of aid in Gaza. It may have been too late; international observers said starvation had set in. The Gaza Health Ministry has said that at least 271 people, including 112 children, have died of starvation to date.
