US envoy visits aid site in Gaza run by Israeli-backed group

Deir Al-Balah: US President Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy on Friday visited a food distribution site in the Gaza Strip operated by an Israeli-backed American contractor whose efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory have been marred by violence and controversy.

International experts warned this week that a “worst-case scenario of famine” is playing out in Gaza. Israel’s nearly 22-month military offensive against Hamas has shattered security in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians and made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to starving people.

Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee toured a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution site in Rafah, Gaza’s

southernmost city, which has been almost completely destroyed and is now a largely depopulated Israeli military zone.

Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli fire while heading to such aid sites since May, according to witnesses, health officials and the UN human rights office. Israel and GHF say they have only fired warning shots and that the toll has been exaggerated.

In a report issued Friday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said GHF was at the heart of a “flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths.”

Hundreds have been killed seeking food

Witkoff posted on X that he had spent over five hours inside Gaza in order to gain “a clear understanding of the humanitarian

situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza.”

Chapin Fay, a spokesperson for GHF, said the visit reflected Trump’s understanding of the stakes and that “feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority.”