Thursday, July 31, 2025 - As global concern over the hunger crisis in Gaza intensifies, Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are set to visit an aid distribution site there, according to the White House.
“Special Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be
traveling into Gaza on Friday 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," White House press secretary
Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Leavitt also said that immediately following the visit,
Witkoff and Huckabee would brief Trump in order to “approve a final plan for
food and aid distribution into the region.”
The president hinted at a new plan to address humanitarian
concerns in Gaza on Monday following a meeting with United Kingdom Prime
Minister Keir Starmer.
“We're going to set up food centers and where the people can
walk in and no boundaries. We're not going to have fences,” Trump said. He
later added that he expected European nations to work with the U.S. on the
initiative, and that he expected the plan to be operational “very soon.”
But so far, both the White House and the State Department
have declined to elaborate on the president’s comments or provide a basic
framework for the new plan.
The Trump administration and Israel have backed Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial American non-profit now charged
with distributing most aid that is allowed to enter Gaza.
The GHF -- with Israel's approval and despite rejection from the United Nations -- took over most of the aid distribution system in Gaza on May 27, after an 11-week Israeli blockade on all supplies from entering the strip. Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid provided by the U.N. -- formerly the main distributor -- and others to fund its militant activity -- claims which Hamas denies.
Earlier this month, more than 160 charity groups and NGOs
called for the GHF to be shut down, claiming that more than 500 Palestinians
had been killed while seeking aid from the organization and that its
distribution locations “have become sites of repeated massacres in blatant
disregard for international humanitarian law.”
But the administration has shown no signs of backing away
from the GHF, which it has repeatedly touted as the only organization working
in Gaza that is able to ensure aid doesn’t benefit Hamas.
The U.S. has pledged $30 million toward GHF’s efforts in
Gaza and a U.S. official told ABC News on Wednesday that the money was expected
to be distributed to the group within the coming days -- a sign of the
administration’s continued confidence in the organization.
As of now, GHF operates only four distribution sites across
Gaza. Trump administration officials have always maintained that its operations
could be scaled up, but there’s no indication the administration has played any
direct role in planning for its expansion.
Ahead of his visit to Gaza, Witkoff met with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Following their discussion, an Israeli official told ABC
News that the two had agreed to several tenets related to bringing the war in
Gaza to a resolution, including that it was time to consider a ceasefire
framework that would free all Israeli hostages, that Hamas must disarm, and
that Israel and the U.S. should work together to increase the flow of aid into
Gaza even as the conflict continues.
Witkoff’s visit to Gaza of Friday will mark his second trip
to Gaza this year.
In late January, when the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas
that was negotiated in part by both the Biden and Trump administrations was
still in place, Witkoff became the first high-level U.S. official to enter Gaza
in more than a decade when he toured an area of the Gaza Strip that was still
occupied by the Israeli military.
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