U.N. should control aid to Gaza

Posted June 13, 2025 4:00 am

Last month, President Trump acknowledged that many people are starving in Gaza. Since then, the U.S. has backed the plan of providing aid through the Israeli-controlled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). This policy is in conflict with international humanitarian law that bars one side in a conflict from controlling aid for the other side. A first attempt at food distribution by the GHF was chaotic and unsuccessful for many reasons.

The U.S. should support supervision of aid distribution in Gaza by the United Nations. The U.N. was delivering aid very effectively during the recent ceasefire. In a piece published in the New York Times on May 29, the director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, lays out the case for the UN’s ability to deliver aid quickly throughout Gaza. U.N.-managed distribution of aid in Gaza is the policy endorsed by all nations except the U.S. and Israel. The Gazan people who are starving cannot and should not have to wait for a completely new, Israeli-controlled aid distribution system. They don’t have the time.

Heidi Hartmann

Elmhurst

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