FIRST ON FOX: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was forced to shut down operations at a women’s food distribution site Thursday after what it called a credible terror threat from Hamas.

GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay told Fox News Digital that GHF had served about 4,000 of roughly 5,500 assembled Palestinian women when military-aged males amassing nearby began to pose a threat to operations. “At first, small numbers of men appeared to survey the GHF site. Those men began making phone calls, and the group grew to a strength of several hundred.”

TRUMP DELIVERS ULTIMATUM TO HAMAS: ACCEPT DEAL AND RELEASE HOSTAGES OR PAY THE CONSEQUENCES

“In real time, we heard from trusted local sources that Hamas was planning to rush the site. We also received credible information that Hamas operatives were planning to infiltrate women-only distributions dressed as women.”

As a result, GHF called off women-only distributions throughout all its distribution sites on Friday. Fay said that the disruption was “not a choice we want to make. It’s a decision forced by Hamas,” adding, “It’s not just threatening us. They’re threatening their own people. The women of Gaza who are simply trying to feed their children are being intimidated and endangered by the very group that claims to represent them. This is deliberate. This is strategic. And this is cruel,” he said.

Fay accused Hamas of spreading false information, “telling people that [Secure Distribution Site Three] will be closed next week.” He said that the organization is not certain whether this means that Hamas plans to attack the site.

ISRAEL STRIKE TARGETS HAMAS LEADERSHIP IN QATAR 

A Palestinian woman carries a box as people seek aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), in the central Gaza Strip, Aug. 4, 2025. (Stringer/Reuters)

“People are visibly scared,” Fay said of the rumors and change in tempo. “They’re asking the same question we are: Why threaten the only operation feeding people at scale in Gaza?”

Hamas has attacked GHF sites previously. In July, two veterans employed by GHF were attacked with grenades of Iranian origin, which are commonly used by Hamas, while delivering aid.

Fay said that GHF has faced increased pressure on its sites since the Israel Defense Forces began their offensive against Gaza City. Fay says the organization has seen a 15%-20% increase in traffic at its sites over the past few days. “Many have never been to our sites before. They’re unfamiliar with our process, and that unfamiliarity is creating confusion. Not violence, but increased disorder.”

Gazans walk with boxes of humanitarian aid they received at a distribution centre run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images)

Fay called on international organizations and the United Nations to partner with GHF “so food reaches the people, not Hamas.” 

Currently, according to the U.N. Office for Project Services, 5,511 trucks of aid sent into Gaza have been intercepted since May 19. Only 938 trucks (14.5%) have arrived at their intended destinations in this period.

Since starting operations in May, GHF has distributed more than 161 million meals, including 1 million today, according to the group.
 

The EU General Court has annulled EU Council decisions from September 2024 and March 2025 sanctioning Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, shortly before a rollover decision on sanctions is due from the body.

Pumpyanskiy is a long-term resident of Geneva who previously held positions in companies formerly owned by his father, Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

He was originally included in sanctions lists on the basis of positions he held in his father’s companies, but is now listed under the EU’s 2023 amended sanctions criteria, which include “close family members who benefit from listed individuals”.

The General Court annulled the Council’s sanction decision in 2023, noting procedural flaws and insufficient justification since Pumpyanskiy had resigned from his corporate positions. The Council did not appeal the decision, but subsequently renewed its sanctions decision against Pumpyanskiy in mid-March this year.

The Court has once again rejected the Council’s reliance on historic corporate roles to establish present qualification under the listing criteria.

Judges held that the Council could not regard “the mere fact” that Pumpyanskiy held relevant executive positions a year before the sanctions decisions as sufficient to justify listing him as a person providing material or financial support to the Russian Government.

Court decision precedes Council sanctions rollover

The ruling landed days before the EU’s Russia sanctions are scheduled for rollover by the EU Council on 15 September 2025.

“Any active relisting on essentially the same record—after three General Court annulments—would raise serious rule-of-law concerns about the effectiveness of judicial oversight in EU sanctions and the protection of fundamental freedoms,” Pumpyanskiy’s lawyers told Euronews.

In April a source familiar with the issue told Euronews that the EU Council was mulling the EU General Court second annulment decision related to Pumpyanskiy and considering whether it needed to take action on it.

Pumpyanskiy’s lawyers have also brought a claim for damages before the General Court against the Council for alleged harm caused by the sanctions.

Speaking to Euronews earlier this year, Pumpyanskiy related his experience of sanctions.

“The first thing is that your finances are affected. The banks block your accounts. That’s the first stage; after that, other problems follow: you’re cut from all the basic services that everyone needs, especially mobile phones, domestic internet,  insurance, cars, etc., so, bit by bit, daily life became extremely complicated for me.”

 The Council has been approached for comment.