Three designated distribution centres are to be established in Rafah, with each Gaza family being able to collect a weekly allotment in a process overseen by vetted NGOs and private US contractors
May 6, 2025 11:04
Israel is reportedly preparing to implement a new humanitarian aid distribution system in southern Gaza designed to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies to fuel terror.
The plan, revealed by military correspondent Doron Kadosh on Army Radio, will apparently focus on the Rafah area between the Morag and Philadelphi corridors – territory currently under IDF control. Holding both corridors allows the military to effectively control the flow of people and goods into Rafah from both northern Gaza and Egypt to the south.
Civilians will only be permitted access to aid after undergoing strict screening procedures, allowing them to enter what is reportedly set to be established as a special humanitarian zone in the southern part of the Strip.
Three designated distribution centres will be established in Rafah, which will serve as the central hub for aid to the entire Gaza Strip.
Each Gazan family will be represented by a single individual authorised to collect a weekly food allotment, calibrated to meet survival needs – approximately 70kgs per household – without creating surpluses that could be exploited by terrorist groups.
Distribution will be managed via a formal registration process overseen by vetted NGOs and American private contractors. However, the ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) will remain, with the organisation prohibited from operating within Israel or engaging in cooperation with Israeli officials.
A senior Israeli security official emphasised that the new system aims to eliminate Hamas’s ability to intercept or steal bulk shipments. “Hamas will find it much harder to seize aid from Gazan families,” the official said. “It’s one thing to hijack a supply truck. It’s another to rob food directly from the hands of hungry civilians.”
The new mechanism comes as the security cabinet has approved a significant expansion of military operations in the enclave, which ministers say could involve a full-scale IDF occupation of the entire territory.
The aim would be to effectively cut the Strip in half, with vetted civilians in the humanitarian zone in the south able to received aid and protection while Hamas terrorists remain isolated in the north. This would, in theory, allow Israeli forces to cut off the supplies sustaining the terror group and eliminate its personnel with limited risk to civilians.
However, Jerusalem is subject to increasing pressure from the wider international community, and particularly from Washington, over humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump acknowledged that “people are starving” in the Strip and pledged American assistance, while sharply criticising Hamas for stealing aid deliveries and “making it impossible” to help civilians in need.
Israeli officials are understood to believe that the new aid plan strikes the right balance in addressing civilian needs while denying Hamas the ability to weaponise humanitarian relief.