Jake Wood, founder and executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), told CNN's Jeremy Diamond on Saturday that the plan was "not perfect, but would feed people."
Wood told Diamond that the situation on the ground is clearly urgent and that they couldn't afford to wait to get aid in.
He reiterated that the GHF was committed to being operational in Gaza by the end of the month, but that "there was no time like the present" to begin entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and that he had asked Israel to bring forward the entry of aid.
Wood said that Israel had agreed to bring forward the entry of aid into Gaza, but that final confirmation on when that would be would come in the next few days.
He said that by the end of the month, they would be operating four secure distribution sites with plans to expand to eight or ten, which will include northern Gaza. The plan aims to provide 300 million meals in the first 90 days.
Pushing back against misinformation
Wood also pushed back on what he called "misinformation" that had been published in the days since GHF had been selected to distribute aid, in particular, he said that direct IDF control of aid and biometric data being shared with Israel were not going to happen and were not something he would have agreed to.
"That is not the plan," he said in regard to the rumors. "I want to stress that this plan is not perfect, but it will be feeding people by the end of the month. In a scenario where no one has allowed aid in over the course of the last ten weeks."
Woods couldn't say whether GHF would be capable of supplying enough aid without the support of the UN.
He said that the international aid community would face a choice: this is the way aid will be distributed in Gaza. "Are you willing to participate?"
Woods said that whether the international aid community helps the GHF supply aid will be critical to the success of the operation.
When asked about the international aid organizations' rejection of the idea that Hamas was stealing aid, Woods said, "My view on this discussion is that it doesn't really matter."
"Israel controls access to Gaza. If their belief is that there is a large percentage of aid that is being interdicted by Hamas and other non-state actors, then we have no choice but to create a mechanism that operates in that construct and in that framing. I'm here to solve a problem and feed people."