Steve Witkoff, what he said, was an effort to visit a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for US support, and to develop a new aid plan.
Surveillance: UN holds two-state solution meeting without US Israel
The UN held a summit to promote the Palestinian state as the Gaza War intensifies and global pressures are on its way.
- Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said that Rafa’s visit to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site was to help put together Gaza’s new aid plan.
- Witkov’s visit was first made by well-known US officials in Gaza since the start of the war.
- Medic says dozens of Gaza people have recently died of malnutrition as hunger spreads.
- Israel has locked down Gaza for several months and now receives more assistance. The United Nations says that it’s not enough.
CAIRO – President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy became the first famous US official to visit Gaza since the war began, and toured a US aid operation on Friday that the UN said will blame the fatal situation.
Steve Witkov visited a site run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rapha, saying it was an effort to create a new aid plan for Palestinian territory shattered in the war that Israel is fighting the militant group Hamas.
Humanitarian organisations and many foreign governments were strongly critical of the GHF, which launched operations in late May. Global Hunger Monitor warned this week that Hunger is rolling out in Gaza.
Hours after Witkov’s visit, Palestinian medical professionals reported that Israeli forces had shot and killed three Palestinians near one of the city’s groups at the southern tip of Gaza. Reuters could not immediately confirm whether it was in the same location.
Israeli forces said they are still considering an incident in which soldiers fired warning shots of what they called “aggregations of suspects” approaching the army hundreds of metres from the aid site.
The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the GHF began operating there.
The Israeli army admits that its forces killed Palestinians seeking assistance, which gave the troops new orders to improve their response.
The UN has refused to cooperate with the GHF, saying that it is inherently dangerous, distributing aid in a way that violates the principle of humanitarian neutrality and contributes to the territorial hunger crisis.
GHF says no one has been killed at its distribution point and they do a better job protecting the delivery of aid than the UN.
Israel has introduced a GHF distribution system, denounced Hamas and the United Nations for failing to reach the desperate Palestinians in Gaza and cited it to hinder the supply of aid seized by Hamas. Hamas denys any assistance to steal.
The US ambassador of Israeli Mike Huckabee, who traveled to Gaza with Witkov on Friday, posted a photo on X showing the hungry Gazan behind the Razorwire on a GHF poster carrying a large American flag that read “100,000,000 meals delivered.”
“President Trump understands Gaza’s interests, and the civilians who feed, not Hamas, must be a priority,” GHF spokesman Chapin Faye said in a statement, accompanied by a gray camouflage top, flack jacket and a baseball cap with Trump’s name sewn onto his back, accompanied by an image of “Make America Great Again.”
“We were honored to briefly describe his delegation, share his business and demonstrate the impact of delivering 100 million meals to those who need it most,” Fay said.
Witkov said at X that he had met with other institutions as well.
“The purpose of the visit was to help @potus (Trump) to clearly understand the humanitarian situation and develop a plan to bring food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” Witkov said.
He visited Gaza a day after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israel has been subject to international pressure on Gaza’s devastation, expanding hunger among its 2.2 million residents.
I’ll starve to die
Gaza Medic says that after Israel shut down all supplies to the enclave for almost three months from March to May, dozens of people died of malnutrition when hunger began.
Israel says it is taking steps to accept more aid, including suspending combat for part of the day in some regions and announcing protection routes for aid squads.
The worsening humanitarian crisis has urged France, the UK and Canada to announce plans to potentially recognize the Palestinian state.
Israeli military statistics show that an average of around 140 aid trucks entered Gaza every day during the war.
On Friday, Israeli forces said 200 trucks of aid were distributed Thursday by the United Nations and other organisations, with hundreds more people being distributed from border crossings in Gaza.
The UN says that if Israel lets them in without strict security measures that it says are blocking entry to much needed humanitarian aid during the war, thousands of trucks are still waiting.
Israel began allowing food air to be softened this week, but UN agencies say these are poor alternatives to ingesting more trucks. On Friday, Israeli forces said 126 food packages had been aired by six countries, including France, Spain and Germany for the first time.
“If there is a political will to allow airdrops that are very expensive, inadequate and inefficient, there should be a similar political will to open road intersections,” Palestinian aid agency chief Philip Lazarini wrote in X.
In addition to three shots near the GHF site, Medics said at least 12 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
The Gaza War, which began after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and captured 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killed more than 60,000 Palestinians.
The ceasefire talks in Qatar ended with a deadlock last week.
