But donors allocated less than 5% of funding to local NGOs in 2023, and that only went to formal ones. Over one million Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel’s military campaign – now entering its fifth month – have been pushed into Rafah. People in Rafah are already experiencing disease and starvation, and aid operations are struggling to meet even basic needs. The latest clashes are taking place close to Goma, a city of 2 million people and a hub for humanitarian aid operations in the east. But detractors point out that his government stands accused by USAID of involvement in industrial-scale food aid theft, and has dragged its feet over both an inquiry and the cleaning up of the heavily politicised beneficiary lists.