US President Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited eastern Gaza on Friday, where he promised increased humanitarian aid for the population facing famine and the worst humanitarian crisis in the territory's modern history.
"The purpose of this visit was to develop a plan for the supply of food and medical aid to the residents of Gaza," Witkoff wrote on the X platform, adding that they stayed for more than five hours inside the war-torn territory.
The visit comes at a time when international pressure is growing on Israel and the US for their management of the crisis in the Gaza Strip, where according to the United Nations the risk of mass starvation is more real than ever after nearly 22 months of bloody war that erupted after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
On the eve of Witkoff's visit, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the aid distribution system run by Israel and the US through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), calling it a "death trap" for Palestinian residents.
According to the UN, 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while waiting in line for aid, 859 of them near GHF centers - an organization with unclear funding, which according to the United Nations is mainly supported by the Israeli military.
Along with Witkoff, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also visited one of the GHF centers.
"The goal was to learn the truth about the humanitarian aid centers and understand how the distribution works," Huckabee told reporters.
In an interview with Axios, President Trump stated that he is working on a plan to "feed the people" in Gaza, considering the situation as "unacceptable" and expressing his willingness to intervene.
According to the latest report from the Gaza Civil Defense, at least 22 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours – among them 8 people waiting for aid, including 2 near GHF centers.
The GHF began its activity at the end of May, after three months of a total aid blockade by Israel, which refused to follow the UN system for distributing aid.
