The IDF announced on Thursday that two new food aid distribution centers will open in southern Gaza in the near future, bringing the total to five, in addition to the three centers already operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
GHF was not specifically mentioned in the announcement, but the group has expressed in the past that it might expand at some point, and it has already closed one food center in the Rafah area in recent months.
Generally, the purpose of GHF, versus the traditional UN and international food aid groups, is to more closely coordinate food distribution with Israel so as to reduce the ability of Hamas to seize the aid and use it as a tool to maintain control of the Gazan population, even as Hamas has lost much of its military foothold above ground in the Strip.
Also, the announcement came the same day that the IDF publicly pressed harder for Palestinian civilians in Gaza City to evacuate as the clock ticks down to a potential IDF invasion of the city.
However, the GHF component may be the most important of Israel's current strategy since the political-military battles over Gaza are most of what remains to be achieved.
In terms of defeating Hamas militarily, there is little left to be done. While theoretically, Hamas still has thousands, if not more, fighting terrorists, they have virtually all gone into hiding since the summer of 2024.
Conquering Gaza City, if that does happen, is not expected to bring about too many significant battles either; large droves of fleeing civilians, with Hamas forces retreating, camouflaged, within that mêlée, is the likely scenario.
Alternatively, regarding the political sphere, nearly 20 months ago, the government declined any international offers on how to run a post-war Gaza.
This means that the only real achievement to date in that area is the GHF, which has cut Hamas off from having control over food in the Rafah, portions of Khan Yunis, and the central Gaza regions.
This is far from a Gaza-wide achievement.
GHF influence in Gaza
Around one million Palestinians are currently in Gaza City in the northern section of the enclave alone, receiving food through traditional UN and international aid channels, which have elements of Hamas control or influence built into the process.
Also, some of the Gazans in central Gaza and the al-Mawasi coastal region, where Hamas is involved or retains influence, are continuing to get food through these sources.
In terms of actual numbers, the GHF declined to answer repeated questions to estimate how many Gazans it has been feeding since it opened operations in late May.
However, the GHF does provide absolute numbers of meals, with those numbers reaching up to around 139 million meals over three months, with an average of around 2.3 million meals per week.
If Gazans fed by the GHF are eating three meals every day, then this means it would be feeding just over 100,000 Gazans, or around one twentieth of Gaza’s two million-plus population.
Alternatively, if Gazans are conserving and eating around two meals per day, the number of Gazans being fed by the GHF could be larger, possibly as high as 160,000.
Previously, The Jerusalem Post published other speculative numbers that were higher, but since then, the IDF has provided a lower number for the average meals per week being distributed.
Clearly, these numbers could grow with 5 food centers, though it is unclear by how much.
The GHF does not keep a record of most of those who come to its centers, so there is no exact way to know how many individuals are double-dipping, among other options.
With all of these qualifications and all of the problems Palestinian civilians are having, such as, on some occasions (though Israeli critics do exaggerate the numbers), aid seekers being mistakenly killed by IDF soldiers on their way to the GHF sites, the GHF experiment has shown that Hamas’s political control can be rolled back.
A significant volume of Gazans have spent portions of time since May out of Hamas’s control, or, at least, much less so.
GHF never fully explained why it closed one of its earlier operating food centers, but had expressed recognition that the location and setup of some of the centers were not ideal, and other centers had closed temporarily and only reopened after significant changes to the layout of those centers and to the food distribution processes.