US Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee visited the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in Rafah on Friday, August 1, 2025, to inspect aid distribution.
The visit follows Witkoff’s arrival in Israel on Thursday, July 31, 2025 and meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as ceasefire negotiations with Hamas have stalled.
Witkoff’s visit to Gaza came as condemnation of Israel grows over famine in Gaza and reports that more than 1,000 desperately hungry Palestinians have been killed since May at food distribution sites operated by the notorious US and Israeli-backed GHF.
White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Witkoff would visit “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.”
“The special envoy and the ambassador will brief the President immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region.”
Karoline Leavitt
The visit by the top US envoy comes a day after more than 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory and health officials reported the deaths of two more children from starvation, adding to the Gaza Health Ministry’s confirmed death toll of 154 people who have died from “famine and malnutrition” – including 89 children – in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, US President, Donald Trump contradicted Netanyahu’s insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were untrue, with the US leader saying the enclave was experiencing “real starvation.”
The United Nations and independent experts had warned for months that starvation was taking hold in Gaza due to the Israeli military blockade on humanitarian relief, and this week, they said that “famine is now unfolding.”
Dire Situation In Gaza Deemed Result Of Israel’s Use Of Starvation
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report today, called Israel’s use of starvation of civilians a weapon of war and a “war crime.”
The report said 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, ongoing actions that amount to the crime against humanity of extermination, and acts of genocide.”
Mass-casualty incidents have taken place on a near-daily basis at or near GHF sites in Gaza. According to the UN, more than 850 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food there since late May, most by the Israeli army.
Belkis Wille, Associate Crisis and Conflict Director at HRW noted that Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, “but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families.”
“US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.
Belkis Wille
The rights group called on states to press Israel to immediately stop its use of lethal force against Palestinian civilians and lift its restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza. It also urged that the US and Israel suspend the GHF distribution system.
Angered by Israel’s denial of aid and ongoing attacks on Gaza’s population, the United Kingdom, Canada and Portugal this week became the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France will recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, following Spain, Norway and Ireland’s lead.
Some 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
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