Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy for peace missions, visited an aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip on Friday as a hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave deepens.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past two months in Gaza while trying to secure aid, which has led to growing international pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian suffering.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, posted a photograph on social media of Mr. Witkoff and himself at an aid site overseen by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or G.D.F., a contentious Israeli-backed group that has distributed food in the enclave since May.
“Went into Gaza today & observed humanitarian food program by US launched GHF.” he wrote.
In a separate post, Mr. Huckabee said that he and Mr. Witkoff had received briefings from the Israeli military and “spoke to folks on the ground.” Mr. Witkoff was wearing a black “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” hat in photographs included in the post.
On Thursday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Huckabee would meet with Palestinians in Gaza and examine aid distribution sites.
Ms. Leavitt said that Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Huckabee would brief President Trump afterward “to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region.”
The G.H.F., which is operated by American security contractors, has aided Israel in overhauling the system for aid distribution in Gaza as a part of an effort that Israeli officials said was meant to prevent Hamas from benefiting from supplies entering the territory.
However, Israeli military officials have told The New York Times that the military has found no evidence that Hamas systematically stole aid from the United Nations, which has provided much of the aid to Gaza since the war there began almost two years ago.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed on their way to collect parcels of food from G.H.F. sites, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Witnesses have reported that, on a number of occasions, Israeli troops opened fire on the approaches to the new aid hubs. The Israeli military has said repeatedly that its troops have fired “warning shots” when people approached its forces in a threatening manner.
On Thursday, Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said that Mr. Witkoff’s visit to Gaza would be a “propaganda show.”
“Witkoff will only see in Gaza what the occupation wants him to see,” he wrote on social media, adding, “He will look at the ongoing tragedy with deceptive Israeli eyes.”
Efforts to deliver aid to Gaza by way of trucks carrying aid from the United Nations and other international organizations have also devolved into mayhem. Most of the trucks have failed to reach their destinations in Gaza in recent weeks, with hungry people intercepting them en route and grabbing whatever aid they can.
Witnesses have reported harrowing scenes near the trucks, including people trampling over others and threatening each other with knives.
Mr. Witkoff also visited Gaza in January, where he said he saw widespread destruction.
Adam Rasgon is a reporter for The Times in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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