Responding to criticism from dozens of charities, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has called on other such groups to join it in providing food to Palestinians in the enclave.

The GHF told Reuters it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and said other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted”.

“Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza,” the GHF told Reuters.

The statement comes after the Israeli military acknowledged yesterday that Palestinian civilians have been harmed at aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned”.