Exclusive-Trump officials told Congress Israel agreed to match $30 million for GHF, sources say

By Jonathan Landay, Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senior Trump administration officials told Congress this month that Israel agreed to match a U.S. award of $30 million to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, a previously unreported contribution to the controversial armed private aid operation.

Aside from the U.S. contribution, which the U.S. State Department announced in June, the sources of the foundation's funding have been opaque - GHF does not disclose its donors.

Israel faces intensifying international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its promotion of GHF's aid operation, which has distribution sites only in southern Gaza and has been called dangerous and ineffective by aid groups and the United Nations - claims the group denies.

Aryeh Lightstone and Charles Leith, aides to Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, briefed U.S. Senate and House of Representatives committees on July 8 and 9 about the GHF operation, according to the two sources.

They told the congressional committees that Israel had agreed to match the $30 million that the U.S. awarded to GHF in June, enough to fund the organization through the end of July, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Lightstone and Leith did not respond to a request for an interview and the White House referred questions to the State Department. The State Department and Israeli government did not respond to requests for comment.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. had dispensed $60 million for Gaza humanitarian aid. The State Department, however, has made no other announcements beyond the $30 million approved for the GHF in June.

A third source familiar with the matter said some U.S. officials believe Trump likely was conflating the U.S. and Israeli funds.

Lightstone and Leith told Congress the hope was that by August, other donors would see GHF's success and contribute to its operation, allowing the foundation to double its distribution sites from four to eight, according to the sources.

Reuters could not verify whether Israel had disbursed the $30 million to GHF, which uses private for-profit U.S. military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution to its sites.

Speaking on Wednesday to the Hudson Institute think tank, GHF Executive Chairman Rev. Dr. Johnnie Moore, a former evangelical adviser to the White House during Trump's first term, said that as a private U.S. charity, the foundation did not have to disclose its donors.

He indicated that GHF required more money. "The biggest problem is just we need more of it, and $30 million is not going to get it done," he said, in an apparent reference to the U.S. contribution.

GHF said in an email to Reuters that it was focused on distributing as much food as was safely possible and was continuing to press the Israeli government to allow it to open additional distribution sites, including in northern Gaza. It declined to comment on its donors or funding.

STARVATION IN GAZA

GHF has been criticized by the United Nations, aid groups and others over what they say is an unsafe aid distribution model and a breach of humanitarian impartiality standards, allegations that GHF denies.

Israel alleges that the U.N.-led aid system that has traditionally served the residents of Gaza has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians.

Hamas denies the accusation.

A recent U.S. government internal analysis found no evidence of systematic theft of U.S.-funded aid by Hamas.

Starvation has been spreading in Gaza, and a hunger monitor on Tuesday said a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death.

In his Wednesday remarks, Moore denied that famine is developing. "That's made up. There's not a famine. There's acute hunger. There's not enough food in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Gaza health authorities have been reporting increasing deaths from hunger-related causes and images of emaciated Palestinian children have drawn international condemnation.

Trump this week declared that many people were starving, contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said there was no starvation in the densely populated coastal enclave, largely destroyed by Israel's military offensive that has killed over 60,000 people according to Gaza health officials.

Trump promised to set up new food centers and said the top priority in Gaza was feeding people.

Gaza's food stocks have been running out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since its fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in October 2023 according to Israeli tallies, cut off all supplies to the territory in March.

That blockade was lifted in May but with restrictions that Israel says are needed to prevent aid being diverted to militant groups.

Israel says it has no aim to starve Gaza. This week it announced steps to allow more aid in, including pausing fighting in some locations, air-dropping food and offering more secure routes. 

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay, Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Charlotte Greenfield in Jerusalem; Editing by Don Durfee and Deepa Babington)