AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And Israeli-U.S. plan to sideline the United Nations aid delivery system is continuing to cause chaos in Gaza. At least 10 Palestinians have been shot dead as Israeli troops have repeatedly opened fire at newly established aid distribution sites.

The aid is being distributed by a shadow U.S. group registered in Delaware called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A separate U.S. company called Safe Reach Solutions is helping to provide security. The New York Times reports that firm is run by a former senior CIA officer named Philip Reilly, who reportedly helped train the Contras in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

The U.N. and international aid groups have condemned the new Israeli-U.S. plan. This is UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

PHILIPPE LAZZARINI: The model of aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with core humanitarian principle. It will deprive a large part of Gaza, the highly vulnerable people, of desperately needed assistance.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, recently wrote an article headlined “Netanyahu: Gaza Aid Scheme Offers Israel Symbolic Cover to Finish the Genocide.” Jeremy Scahill has also been reporting on proposals for a new ceasefire in Gaza.

We’ll get to that in a minute, Jeremy. But why don’t you lay out what is going on? This shadowy group that has moved in, condemned by humanitarian aid organizations, by the United Nations, talk about who they are and what’s happening.

JEREMY SCAHILL: I mean, first of all, Amy, we should be very clear that this cutout of a company — you know, “cutout” is a term of espionage — it was established by people with ties to the CIA and Israeli intelligence, was meant to serve as part of Netanyahu’s war of annihilation. Netanyahu himself said the quiet part out loud in a recent speech, when he said that he was getting some pressure even from his most passionate backers in the Republicans in the Senate. And he said, you know, that they didn’t want the optics of starving Palestinians, and that this could hinder the ability of the United States to continue arming and supporting Netanyahu, and so they wanted to give the veneer of some form of aid.

And Netanyahu and Israel have been at war against UNRWA, the U.N. agency that was established in the aftermath of the Nakba in the late 1940s, when the state of Israel was imposed on Palestine as a European colonial-settler state. And so, this serves two purposes. It allowed Netanyahu to say, “Look, we’re letting aid in, and we’re doing it so that Hamas can’t steal it” — which, by the way, was a lie. And even Biden’s top humanitarian official, David Satterfield, said this week that there was no evidence ever presented by Israel that Hamas was stealing or hoarding the aid. So, part of it was just was to give the veneer of we’re doing something humanitarian. The other part of it was to continue the war against UNRWA, to destroy the premier aid organization serving Palestinian refugees, forcibly displaced people. And UNRWA, its very existence, Netanyahu and Israel hate, because it recognizes the international laws that say that the Palestinians have a right to return to their land that they started to be — to lose in 1947, 1948, when the Nakba began.

So, they created this shell company, with ties to American intelligence officers, as a way of further destroying UNRWA, but also serving Netanyahu’s agenda. They then bring in an American mercenary company that — you know, Blackwater-style guys that you saw in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the so-called war on terror. And then they created what international aid officials have said are concentration camp or internment camp-like conditions. Others have likened it to ghetto-style conditions, where Palestinians are going to be forced to stand out in the heat all day in barbed-wire fence enclosures, looking like a cage, and then they get a box with a paltry amount of food aid in it. There’s no medicine. There’s no infant formula. This is all just trickery that is being used to further the genocide.

And, Amy, I’ve been talking to people. A personal friend of mine whose family is from Khan Younis, four members of his family were shot sniper style yesterday by the Israeli military when they went to pick up these aid boxes at one of the two sites, the one near Rafah.

What is happening is that the Israelis are also using this as an intelligence operation. They’ve snatched, kidnapped a number of Palestinians. They’ve interrogated them. When they don’t get the answers they want, they’ve disappeared them.

They haven’t given any mechanism for how people are supposed to line up or know where to go. What we’re hearing from sources on the ground is that word just spreads via WhatsApp and text messages. “Oh, there’s going to be aid delivered in this place.” People go there, and it’s just pure chaos.

So, none of this is by accident. This is by design. And you have, on the one hand, a pittance of aid that is being actually distributed, relative to what is needed just to have — just to address the basic starvation factor in Gaza right now. And on the other hand, Israel is using this and the desperation of people to further dehumanize Palestinians. And when they go to try to desperately grab whatever aid they can, as we saw happen at a U.N. warehouse, then they say, “Well, Hamas is shooting starving people trying to get food.” No, Israel has intentionally starved the population of Gaza now for three months. They have continued the campaign of dehumanization, and they’re using food as a weapon of war in an effort to further dehumanize Palestinians.

And the last thing I’ll say about this is Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich, who’s in the war cabinet, both said that the point of this is to lure Palestinians, as though they’re animals going into a cage, lure them with the bait of promise of aid, and then entrap them in the south of Gaza, where they can either kill them in an increasingly shrinking killing cage or lock that cage and ship them off to another country. They call it Trump’s plan, but actually it’s been Netanyahu life’s work to try to erase Palestinians as a people and as a territory.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, on Wednesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation posted a video online showing Palestinians lined up, cheering at a new aid distribution site. The post includes this message: “Humanity shines as thousands cheer the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, heralding a new era of hope and compassion.”

MASKED MAN: Isn’t this crazy? Look at that.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, the video shows a man who’s totally masked, making a heart sign. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha responded to the video by writing, quote, “Concentration Camp! Humiliating people starved for 86 days. Shame on this world.” Jeremy, your response?

JEREMY SCAHILL: I mean, there are no words to offer in response, because we know that the entire point of this was to serve the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. We know that the agenda at play here was to try to lure them with food as a bait, to try to wipe them out. This is part of the life’s work, the central life’s work of Benjamin Netanyahu. And, in fact, a recent public opinion poll in Israel said that 82% of Jewish Israelis want Palestinians removed from Gaza.

The world understands what the agenda is. Many governments that are now starting to speak up were enablers of this. Many news organizations are starting to speak up that were enablers of this. History should never forget what the United States facilitated under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

AMY GOODMAN: Very quickly, Jeremy, the issue of the ceasefire proposals? You’ve spoken — 

JEREMY SCAHILL: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — with Hamas officials. Explain what’s happening right now.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Yeah, well, Amy, I actually just saw the latest draft that was circulated by Steve Witkoff. This was announced yesterday with Donald Trump. And basically, what’s happening here is Hamas had agreed to a version of this framework that they were told by a U.S. emissary would satisfy Donald Trump. The Israelis went nuts over that. And so, what’s happening right now is there’s an attempt to amend language.

It boils down to this, Amy: Israel wants to be able to continue the genocide if it determines it wants to do so. Hamas has said it’s a red line if the deal does not include a clear path to negotiations for a permanent end to the war.

So, what is happening right now is that there are reviews happening on Hamas’s side, on Israel’s side, and we’re going to have to see. Donald Trump is the defining factor. Everyone involved knows that the only person capable of ending this genocidal war is Donald Trump. It’s a sick reality. It has to do with his business interests in the Gulf and elsewhere and his image of himself. But it all boils down to that. It has nothing to do with a humanitarian objective or saving Palestinian lives. It has everything to do with whether Donald Trump decides Netanyahu’s war is bad for his business politically and his personal family business.

AMY GOODMAN: We just have 30 seconds, but you’ve reported someone who served as a backdoor negotiator for the Trump administration is Dr. Bishara Bahbah. Can you explain who he is?

JEREMY SCAHILL: Bishara Bahbah was the head of Arab Americans for Trump. You know, Donald Trump tried to hit Kamala Harris, because he knew that she was very unpopular because of her Gaza stance. He’s been the U.S. emissary that’s been dealing directly with Hamas. I’m told that often what happens is Bahbah is in the room with Hamas officials. They then get Witkoff on the line, or they communicate by text messages. You know, this is a lower-level official, but it seems clear that that backdoor communication is what led to Witkoff announcing that there may be a breakthrough imminently.

AMY GOODMAN: Jeremy Scahill, we want to thank you so much for being with us, co-founder of Drop Site News. We’ll link to your recent reports.

That does it for our show. We’re hiring a senior headline news producer, a director of audience and a director of technology. You can find out more about these full-time jobs at democracynow.org/jobs. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, for another edition of Democracy Now!