DaysofPal – U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff arrived Friday at a food distribution hub in the southern Gaza Strip, amid intensifying famine and mounting accusations that aid centers have become sites of mass killing under Israeli military control.
Witkoff, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, toured the Morag hub north of Rafah, one of the key distribution points currently overseen by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The visit, confirmed by Israeli media and described by the White House as part of efforts to “inspect current food distribution sites and secure a plan to increase humanitarian access,” comes at a time when Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe has reached new depths.
The deliberate starvation campaign by the Israelis, which is causing the famine in Gaza, is getting worse. Since October 7, 2023, Gaza has been under relentless siege, bombardment, and a blockade that has decimated infrastructure, crippled the health system, and left over two million people struggling for survival.
The U.S. envoy’s trip follows a wave of international criticism over the role of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which took over aid coordination in May. According to both the United Nations and Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed and more than 8,800 wounded in or around aid distribution sites since the Foundation began operating, by Israeli gunfire and foreign security contractors.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have accused Israeli forces and contractors of turning food lines into killing zones, targeting starving civilians desperate for supplies.
The bloodshed has raised alarm over the weaponization of aid and the failure of supposed humanitarian frameworks to protect the vulnerable.
Before Witkoff’s arrival, the White House signaled that Washington was seeking to modify the deeply flawed aid system to ensure the flow of more food into Gaza.
However, these pledges fall short of addressing the root cause: Israel’s tight control over entry points and the militarization of aid corridors.
President Donald Trump, speaking a day before the visit, called the images of starvation in Gaza “a disgrace,” but stopped short of labeling the crisis as a famine. “We’re waiting for Steve’s report,” he told reporters, referring to his envoy’s fact-finding mission.
Palestinian tribal spokesperson Husni al-Mughni responded with scathing words, calling on Witkoff to confront the suffering firsthand. “Let him come and see the bodies of children, the hollowed eyes of the hungry. Is the world satisfied with 90 deaths a day?”
Witkoff’s tour comes at a moment of moral reckoning, as aid trucks remain backed up at border crossings, children die of hunger daily, and global calls grow louder for an end to Israel’s siege and a full-scale humanitarian intervention.
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