WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the State Department said on Thursday, calling on other countries to also support the controversial group delivering aid in war-torn Gaza.

“This support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump’s and Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of peace in the region,” State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Reuters was first to report the move earlier this week.

Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known U.S. government financial contribution to the organization, which uses private for-profit U.S. military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.

UN Says 400 Palestinians Killed While Seeking Aid

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited U.N. deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the U.N. and GHF operations.

Earlier this month, GHF halted aid deliveries for a day as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety near its distribution sites after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. It says there have been no incidents at its sites.

The foundation’s executive director, Johnnie Moore, an evangelical preacher who was a White House adviser in the first Trump administration, said in a post on X on Thursday that the group has delivered more than 46 million meals to Gazans since it began its operations in May.

Some U.S. officials opposed giving any U.S. funds to the foundation over concerns about violence near aid distribution sites, the GHF’s inexperience and the involvement of the for-profit U.S. logistics and private military firms, four sources told Reuters earlier this week.

Sources Say $30 Million in Aid Could Come Monthly

The United States could approve additional monthly grants of $30 million for the GHF, two sources said, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

In approving the U.S. funding for the GHF, the sources said the State Department exempted the foundation, which has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza’s two million inhabitants.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting Costas Pitas and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft)