Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF, said it would begin the distribution of aid supplies in Gaza Strip.
This was part of a new mechanism viewed highly skeptically by existing aid providers including the United Nations.
By the end of the week, the foundation said it would reach more than one million Palestinians nearly half the total population of about 2.2 million.
Israeli broadcaster, Kan reported, citing Israeli officials, that the first of four GHF distribution centre would open in the Gaza Strip during the course of the day.
Food parcels were to be handed out to the population from these distribution centres.
The foundation also planned to construct more distribution centres, the report said.
The UN was critical of the foundation, partly because it said that civilians could be caught in the crossfire on the way to the distribution centres.
The route there could be an insurmountable hurdle for the elderly and sick.
The executive director of the GHF, Jake Wood, earlier announced his resignation from the foundation, saying that it threatened humanitarian principles.
He said “it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,’’ according to multiple media outlets.
Wood was a U.S. military veteran who founded a humanitarian response service called Team Rubican and also led an online platform to enable corporate aid giving.
On his LinkedIn page he had previously described the GHF model as “unconventional, but said that he was aiming to help lead this effort at a moment when new thinking and trusted execution are urgently needed.’’
Aid organisations are warning of a famine in the Gaza Strip.
In March, Israel blocked all aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip as a temporary ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas collapsed.
The Israeli government accused Hamas of stealing aid in order to make money to finance its fighters and weapons.
The group, classified as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. and EU, denies the accusation.
The UN said that Israel had provided no evidence of this.
Israel says the new mechanism for distributing aid supplies would prevent Hamas from benefiting from the deliveries. dpa/NAN
