US envoy Steve Witkoff has made an unprecedented visit to Gaza on Friday in order to personally inspect humanitarian aid sites and assess the growing humanitarian crisis.
Under Israeli security, Witkoff entered the southern Gaza city of Rafah to visit a a US-backed aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – which is protected by American security contractors. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is also present, as was previewed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a Thursday press briefing.
“Tomorrow, special envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,” Leavitt had said.
Witkoff says he is going to brief the president based on his fact-finding mission in the strip amid growing international pressure, and after the UN’s human rights arm had publicized that as of mid-july 674 Palestinians had been killed “in the vicinity of GHF sites.”
Huckabee and Witkoff’s statements have so far been sparce on details but have been generally positive, despite most of Gaza having been leveled and with the majority of Palestinians internally displaced and with many starving.
“We received briefings from the IDF and spoke to folks on the ground,” Huckabee wrote on X. “GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!”
Huckabee earlier stated that the visit to Gaza was “to learn the truth” about the aid distribution sites, also after the United Nations complained it’s been sidelined and that aid is not getting in. Israel has consistently accused the UN of allowing aid to fall into the hands of Hamas and armed criminal gangs.
And Witkoff wrote on X, “Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza — level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with @GHFUpdates and other agencies.”
“The purpose of the visit was to give POTUS a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” he added. But Hamas has condemned what it’s calling a “staged personal visit” and a photo opportunity:
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