Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip (AP) – President of the United States Donald Trump’s Special envoy Steve Witkoff He visited southern Gaza on Friday amid international outrage over hunger, shortage and fatal turmoil near aid distribution site.
Witkov and the US Ambassador for Israel as food is rare and parcels are fantasized Mike Huckabee Toured one of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites Rafathe southernmost city of Gaza. Group spokesman Chapin Faye said the visit reflects Trump’s understanding of interests and “feeding civilians must be a priority, not Hamas.”
All four sites in the group are located in zones controlled by Israeli forces, and during months of operation, the group is becoming a flashpoint of despair, with hungry people seeking rare aid. Hundreds were killed either by shooting or trampling.
Israel The military only fired warning shots at people approaching that force, and the GHF says that armed contractors use only pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent fatal crowds.
Witkov’s visit comes a week after US officials blaming away from the ceasefire talks in Qatar Hamas I pledge to save the Israeli hostages and seek other ways to make Gaza safe.
White House press chief Caroline Leavitt said Thursday that Witkov was sent to create a plan to raise food and help with salvation, but Trump wrote on social media that the fastest way to end the crisis is for Hamas to abandon and release the hostages.
Officials at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said they have received 25 bodies, including 13 people killed while trying to receive assistance, including near sites visited by US officials. The GHF denied that everyone was killed on their site on Friday, saying that the recent incident occurred near the UN aid convoy.
The remaining 12 people were killed in airstrikes, officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Human Rights Watch: “Nearly impossible”
International organizations say Gaza is on The Border of Hungry of the Last Two Years. The integrated food security stage classification, the international key authority on the food crisis, means recent developments, including a complete lockdown of aid for two and a half months, saying “the worst-case scenario of hunger is currently being rolled out in Gaza.”
Although the flow of aid, including air drops, has resumed, the amount entering Gaza remains much lower than what aid organizations say they need it. Territory security breakdowns have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to hungry Palestinians. It was stocked and later sold at an exorbitant price..
At a press conference Friday in Gaza city, representatives of the territorial influential tribe accused Israel of empowering factions supporting the site and pleading Witkov to stay in Gaza for a few hours to witness life in person.
“We want American envoys to come and live among us in these tents with no water, no food, no light,” they said. “Our kids are hungry on the streets.”
In a report issued Friday, Human Rights Watch called the current setup “a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that turned aid distribution into normal blood.”
“It is nearly impossible for Palestinians to follow the directions issued by the GHF to remain safe and receive assistance, particularly in the context of ongoing military operations, approved curfews by the Israeli military, and frequent GHF messages. It cited doctors, seekers for assistance, and at least one security contractor.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers since the group’s operations began in late May, according to eyewitnesses and health officials. The Israeli army said the troops only fired warning shots to control the crowd.
In response to the report, Israeli military accused Hamas of smearing the aid delivery system, but said it was working to make the aid sites safer to make routes under its control safer. GHF did not immediately answer any questions about the report.
The group never allowed journalists to visit their sites, and Israeli forces banned reporters from entering Gaza independently during the war.
International condemnations are piled up as such reports drip out of Gaza, including those aid organizations that previously oversaw distribution.
A July 30 video issued Thursday to coordinate the UN Humanitarian Affairs showed aid convoy driving across the border as a shootout bounced off the ground near the crowd gathered.
“We met on the road by tens of thousands of hungry, hopeless people who offloaded everything directly from the back of the truck,” said Olga Cherevko, a staff member at OCHA.
German Foreign Minister occupying the West Bank
Several of Israel’s traditional allies moved towards the perception of the Palestinian state, hoping to revive the prospects for a solution for the two states. So far, Germany has refrained from doing so. On a tour in the occupied West Bank, the country’s foreign minister Johann Wadehulu called on Israel to be open to create peace in Israel, saying that Hamas militants should abandon their arms and release hostages.
Speaking in the villages of Teibe, the majority of Christians, Wadehulu called Israeli settlements on the West Bank a key obstacle to the two states’ solution. He condemned the violence and destruction of the settlers, and criticised the Israeli forces for not doing much to prevent the attack.
The frequency of settler attacks on the West Bank has increased since the Israeli-Hamas war began, according to the United Nations. The conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and acquiring 251 people.
They still hold 50 hostages. Most others have been released in ceasefires and other deals.
Israel’s retaliation attack More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killedaccording to the Gaza Ministry of Health. That count does not distinguish between extremists and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations consider it the most reliable source of data on victims.
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The Mets reported from Jerusalem and Frankel from Tel Aviv, Israel.
