Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy to the Middle East, arrived in the southern Gazan city of Rafah on Friday and visited an assistance distribution center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by both Israel and the United States.
“GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!” said Mike Huckabee, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, in a post about the visit on X, stating that they had traveled to Gaza to “learn the truth” about the relief location.
However, the world community has harshly condemned the food aid system, claiming that people in Gaza are starving and have been shot while attempting to obtain food.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Witkoff and Huckabee would brief President Trump “immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region.” Other information about future food distribution mechanisms will be released “once that plan is approved and agreed on” by the president.
Afamine is spreading in Gaza, according to U.N.-backed food security experts, in part due to Israeli limitations on aid entering the region. Witkoff arrived in Israel earlier this week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In order to stop more civilian casualties, several foreign leaders have urged Israeli authorities to permit unfettered assistance flows. According to foreign humanitarian organizations and local medical professionals, famine is still causing daily deaths in Gaza. The United Nations also revealed that since May, over 800 people have died while attempting to obtain food from GHF-run distribution locations.
At least 91 Palestinians have been murdered and about 600 injured while trying to get food and help in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza health officials on Thursday. NPR’s producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, said that Israeli troops fired on more Palestinians at a GHF-run site on Friday morning.
Israel has demanded that the GHF continue to operate, claiming that Hamas is to blame for the violence that frequently envelops the group’s locations. The GHF was created to circumvent the UN.
However, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada have announced preparations to recognize a Palestinian state in response to Israel’s stance on food aid limitations; Britain has stated that this will happen in September unless Israel changes its mind. In a news conference this week, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, insisted that doing so would put Hamas in power and “ain’t gonna happen.”
The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that it would apply visa-related sanctions on the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority because of its backing of international court litigation against Israel’s activities in Gaza.
In order to facilitate a future two-state solution incorporating Israelis and Palestinians, the Palestinian Authority has been advocating for increased international recognition of Palestinian statehood.
A majority of Democrats in the U.S. Senate voted this week to prohibit the sale of certain American weaponry to Israel, demonstrating the growing international and domestic concern about Israel’s practices addressing food shortages in Gaza.
The Israeli military that have a security presence close to the few GHF locations in Gaza were accused by Human Rights Watch on Friday of committing war crimes when they attacked Palestinian relief workers.
The rights organization stated that the “dire humanitarian situation is a direct result of Israel’s use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war a war crime as well as Israel’s continued intentional deprivation of aid and basic services, which amounts to the crime against humanity of extermination, and acts of genocide.”
The Israeli government has vehemently refuted claims that it has carried out genocide or war crimes in Gaza.
“Israeli forces are not only purposefully starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director for Human Rights Watch.
Wille claimed that the aid system implemented by GHF contractors was “flawed” and “militarized,” and that it had “turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.”
President Trump stated that he hopes Israel will make sure food is delivered to the needy Palestinians and stop Hamas from diverting supplies.
Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a competent person” in an interview with NBC, adding that his government aimed “to make sure people get fed.” “Good management” will stop assistance theft, he said, adding, “Hopefully, the Israelis will provide that.”
Trump said, “It’s terrible what’s happening there,” in response to reporters’ questions regarding Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s description of Israel’s actions in Gaza this week as genocide. It is an awful thing. People are starving.
He restated his assertion that the GHF had received millions of dollars in funding from the United States, but he questioned its effectiveness.
“It’s unfortunate that I can’t observe the outcomes. The individuals we provided it to are theoretically keeping a tight eye on it. We wanted it guarded by Israel. The fact that Hamas is stealing the food and the money is part of the issue,” Trump stated. The United Nations and other relief organizations in Gaza claim that they have not witnessed Hamas diverting their aid and that armed gangs, some of whom Israel has publicly supported to weaken Hamas, are largely responsible for the stealing.
Reporting was done by Anas Baba in Gaza and Emily Feng in Tel Aviv.
Copyright 2025 NPR
