WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has authorized providing $30 million to a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group that is distributing food in Gaza, a U.S. official said Tuesday, an operation that has drawn criticism from other humanitarian organizations.

The request is the first known U.S. government funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution efforts amid the Israel-Hamas war. The American-led group had applied for the money to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has been dismantled and will soon be absorbed into the State Department as part of the Trump administration's deep cuts of foreign aid.

The application is part of a controversial development: private contracting firms led by former U.S. intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world's deadliest conflict zones in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue involving a controversial aid program, said the decision to directly fund GHF was made to provide effective and accessible humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

The announcement comes as violence and chaos have plagued areas near the new food distribution sites since opening last month. In a statement, GHF refuted AP's reporting about any killings near its sites. The group says it has delivered some 44 million meals to Palestinians in need.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds heading toward desperately needed food, killing hundreds in recent weeks. The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people it said approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

Witnesses said Israeli troops opened fire as crowds tried to reach a GHF site on Tuesday in southern Gaza. At least 19 were killed and 50 others wounded, according to Nasser hospital and Gaza's Health Ministry. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, it accuses Hamas of stealing aid, without offering evidence. The United Nations, its affiliated aid agencies and private humanitarian groups that work in Gaza have denied that there has been any significant theft of their supplies by Hamas.

U.N. agencies, humanitarian groups and crisis experts have warned for months that many of Gaza's more than 2 million people are on the brink of famine. Israel recently eased a blockade on food and other humanitarian supplies to the territory, but the U.N. humanitarian aid office says deliveries into Gaza remain severely restricted, describing the current flow of food as a trickle into an area facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

The Oxfam America aid organization condemned the Trump administration's funding decision Tuesday, calling the U.S. and Israeli-supported aid operation a multimillion-dollar distraction from the actual causes — and solutions — of Gaza's humanitarian crisis that also carries fatal risks for its intended beneficiaries.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that the American-led group had asked the Trump administration for the initial funding so it can continue its aid operation, which has been criticized by the U.N., humanitarian groups and others. They accuse the foundation of cooperating with Israel's objectives in the 21-month-old war against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters earlier Tuesday that she had no information to provide on funding for the foundation.