U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff arrived in the southern Gazan city of Rafah Friday, where he inspected an aid distribution center operated by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Witkoff was accompanied by the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who posted about the visit on X, saying they had gone to Gaza to "learn the truth" about the aid site, adding: "GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!"
But the international community has criticized the food aid system vociferously, saying people in Gaza are starving and have been shot trying to get food.
Witkoff and Huckabee would brief President Trump "immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and further details on future food distribution mechanisms would be published "once that plan is approved and agreed on" by the president.
Witkoff landed in Israel earlier this week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as U.N.-backed food security experts reported that a famine is unfolding in Gaza partly because of Israeli restrictions on aid entering the territory.
At the same time other world leaders have called on Israeli authorities to allow unrestricted aid flows to prevent further civilian deaths. Not only are daily deaths linked to starvation continuing in Gaza, local medics and international aid groups say, but the United Nations reported that since May more than 800 people have been killed while trying to access food from distribution sites run by the GHF.
The Gaza health authorities said Thursday that at least 91 Palestinians had been killed, and around 600 wounded, while attempting to access food and aid over just the past 24 hours. On Friday morning, even more Palestinians came under fire from Israeli troops at one site managed by the GHF, according to NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba.
The GHF was established to bypass the United Nations, and Israel has insisted on its continued operation, blaming Hamas for the violence that has often surrounded the group's sites.
But Israel's stance on food aid restrictions has prompted France, the U.K. and Canada to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state, with Britain saying this would happen in September unless Israel changes course. It's something Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, insisted at a press conference this week would leave Hamas in power, and "ain't gonna happen."
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said it would impose visa-related sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, headquartered in the West Bank, due in part to its support for cases against Israel's actions in Gaza that are being heard at international courts.
The Palestinian Authority has been pushing for greater international recognition of Palestinian statehood, as a pathway to a future two-state solution involving Israelis and Palestinians.
The escalating global and domestic outrage over Israel's policies regarding food shortages in Gaza has extended to several other European countries, and even to the U.S. Senate, where a majority of Democrats this week voted to block sales of specific American weapons to Israel.
On Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli troops that maintain a security presence near the handful of GHF sites in Gaza of carrying out war crimes during their actions against Palestinian aid seekers.
The rights group said 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, which amounts to the crime against humanity of extermination, and acts of genocide."
The Israeli government has strongly denied accusations that it has committed war crimes or acts of genocide in Gaza.
Belkis Wille, Human Rights Watch's associate crisis and conflict director, said in a statement, "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."
The aid system put in place by contractors at the GHF was "flawed" and "militarized," Wille said, and had "turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths."
President Trump said he hopes Israel will ensure the delivery of food to starving Palestinians and prevent aid diversion by Hamas.
In an interview with NBC, Trump described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "a competent person" and said his administration wanted "to make sure people get fed." He emphasized that "good management" would prevent the theft of aid, adding, "Hopefully, the Israelis will provide that."
When questioned by reporters about Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's characterization of Israel's actions in Gaza this week as genocide, Trump responded, "It's terrible what's occurring there. It's a terrible thing. People are very hungry."
He reiterated his claim that the U.S. had provided millions in aid to the GHF, but questions its efficacy.
"It's a shame because I don't see the results of it. We gave it to people who, in theory, are watching over it fairly closely. We wanted Israel to watch over it. Part of the problem is that Hamas is taking the money and they're taking the food," Trump said. U.N. and other aid agencies in Gaza say they have not seen their aid being diverted by Hamas and that much of the looting is driven by armed gangs, some of whom Israel has openly backed to undermine Hamas.
Emily Feng in Tel Aviv and Anas Baba in Gaza contributed reporting.
Copyright 2025 NPR