A so-called humanitarian effort, shaped by the United States and Israel under the name of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has become a source of bloodshed and despair for Palestinians rather than a lifeline. Last Tuesday, 27 Palestinians were killed and over 90 wounded after the Israeli army opened fire on civilians waiting near a U.S. aid centre west of Rafah. It was not the first such incident, and tragically, it may not be the last.

This brutal pattern of targeting starving civilians has prompted the Boston Consulting Group, a key partner in designing the aid mechanism, to terminate its contract and withdraw staff from Israel. Their departure signals a silent but damning verdict on the plan’s integrity. The aid mechanism, already rejected by international organisations and humanitarian agencies, now stands exposed not only as ineffective but dangerous.

From the beginning, Palestinians saw through the intentions of this initiative. Backed by two governments complicit in the destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, the GHF was never trusted. The UN and major NGOs refused to participate, condemning the Israeli-led mechanism as a violation of humanitarian principles. Their warnings were tragically validated by scenes of chaos, shootings, and hunger-stricken civilians lying in the streets.

The words of UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk could not be clearer: denying food and targeting those who seek it may constitute war crimes. His statement followed the massacre in Rafah and echoes a broader international consensus, that Gaza needs open borders, not orchestrated spectacles of aid under military threat. Médecins Sans Frontières echoed this view, calling the mechanism a cover for continued violence, saying plainly: "The Israeli army calls on Gaza residents to head to aid centres, and then opens fire on them."

In a region where bread has become a reason to die, the failure of this aid distribution plan is not logistical, it is moral. Palestinians are not only denied food, water, and medicine,  they are denied their right to survive.