US envoy Witkoff visits aid operation in Gaza rejected by UN as unsafe
Steve Witkoff visited a site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in what he said was a bid to put together a new aid plan for the war-shattered territory.
Summary
- Witkoff says visit to GHF site in Rafah was to help put together new aid plan for Gaza
- First high-profile US official in Gaza since war began
- Three Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces hours near one of the GHF's aid points
- Medics say dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent days as hunger spreads
- Israel blockaded Gaza for months, now letting in limited amounts of aid; UN says that's not enough
President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy became the first high profile US official to visit Gaza since the war began, touring a US-backed aid operation on Friday that the United Nations says is partly to blame for deadly conditions in the enclave.
Steve Witkoff visited a site run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in what he said was a bid to put together a new aid plan for the war-shattered territory.
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Hours after his visit, Palestinian medics reported Israeli forces had shot dead three Palestinians near one of the group's sites in the city on Gaza's southern edge. Reuters could not immediately verify whether it was the same location.
The Israeli military said it was still looking into the incident, in which soldiers had fired warning shots at what it described as a "gathering of suspects" approaching its troops, hundreds of meters from the aid site.
The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating there in May, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
The UN has declined to work with the GHF, which it says distributes aid in ways that are inherently dangerous and violate humanitarian neutrality principles, contributing to the hunger crisis across the territory.
The GHF says nobody has been killed at its distribution points, and that it is doing a better job of protecting aid deliveries than the UN.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who travelled with Witkoff to Gaza on Friday, posted on X a picture showing hungry Gazans behind razor wire with a GHF poster with a big American flag that read "100,000,000 meals delivered".
"President Trump understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority," GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said in a statement, accompanied by images of Witkoff in a grey camouflage top, flak jacket and "Make America Great Again" baseball cap with Trump's name stitched on the back.
"We were honoured to brief his delegation, share our operations, and demonstrate the impact of delivering 100 million meals to those who need them most," Fay said.
Witkoff said on X that he had also met with other agencies.
"The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS (Trump) a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza," Witkoff said.
He visited Gaza a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Israel under mounting international pressure over the devastation of Gaza and growing starvation among its 2.2 million inhabitants.
In addition to the three shot near a GHF site, medics said at least 12 other Palestinians were killed in air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Gaza war, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel in October 2023, has now killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them in Israeli airstrikes.
Ceasefire talks in Qatar ended last week in deadlock.
Gaza medics say dozens have died of malnutrition in recent days as hunger sets in, after Israel cut off all supplies to the enclave for nearly three months from March-May, and restricted supplies since.
Israel says it is taking steps to let in more aid, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.
It has acknowledged that its forces have killed some Palestinians seeking aid and says it has given its troops new orders to improve their response.
The worsening humanitarian crisis has prompted France, Britain and Canada to announce plans to potentially recognise a Palestinian state, a move already taken by most countries but not by major Western powers.
'Starving to death'
Israel blames Hamas and the UN for the failure of food to get to desperate Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli military's statistics show that an average of around 140 aid trucks have entered Gaza daily during the course of the war, about a quarter of what international humanitarian agencies say is required.
On Friday, the Israeli military said that 200 trucks of aid were distributed by the U.N. and other organizations on Thursday, with hundreds more waiting to be picked up from the border crossings inside Gaza.
The United Nations says it has thousands of trucks still waiting, if Israel would let them in without the stringent security measures which aid groups say have prevented the entry of much-needed humanitarian assistance throughout the war.
Israel has begun food air drops this week, but UN agencies say these are a poor alternative to letting in more trucks.
"If there is political will to allow airdrops - which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings. As the people of Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance," UN Palestinian aid agency chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media site X.
