FILE - People carry relief supplies from a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution centre in the central Gaza Strip . AFP
The US and Israeli-backed private organisation was established to distribute food aid in Gaza in May after Israel placed tight restrictions on international agencies, but UN experts and traditional aid agencies criticised its work.
Hundreds of Palestinians are were killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid at GHF distribution sites, according to the UN human rights office and, in August, United Nations special rapporteurs called for it to be disbanded.
GHF spokesman Chapin Fay said the foundation had paused operations during the first phase of Gaza's ceasefire, and was now awaiting orders to get back to work.
"While the situation remains fluid on the ground, GHF has been instructed to remain ready to re-engage and specifically not to take any actions that would preclude us from resuming operations immediately," Fay said.
In August, the UN-mandated expert panel said that under the GHF, aid was "exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas".
Moreover, the UN rights experts voiced alarm at reports of "enforced disappearances" of starving Palestinians seeking food at distribution sites run by the (GHF), urging Israel to end the "heinous crime."
The seven independent experts said in a joint statement they had received reports that a number of individuals, including one child, had been "forcibly disappeared" after going to aid distribution sites in Rafah, southern Gaza.
The UN declared a famine in Gaza governorate last week, blaming "systematic obstruction" of humanitarian deliveries by Israel. Israel, which has accused Hamas of looting aid supplied by the UN, imposed a total blockade on Gaza between March and May.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Gaza stipulates that the entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party.
The GHF had four distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, while the UN system it replaced had 400.
After the release by Hamas of the remaining living captives held in Gaza to Israel on October 13, the GHF told AFP that the 'SDS4' site, a secured distribution site in Khan Yunis, had been dismantled.
Two weeks ago, the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel signed on to a US-backed plan for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
It is the first phase in what international mediators hope will be a process to end the war and kickstart reconstruction.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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