Washington – President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Israel on Thursday to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, said a familiar source and a senior White House official.
Witkoff, who has supervised negotiations to resolve Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza, will meet with officials, although it is not yet clear who will be involved in those discussions. Trump said earlier this week that Israel “has a lot of responsibility for the help flow,” emphasizing that his government could greatly expand access to food.
Witkoff’s trip abroad occurs since many Democrats and some Republicans have been asking the Trump administration to do more to expand food assistance to Gaza, inflict greater pressure on the Israeli government and renew efforts to attack a high fire in the region. The conversations to reach an agreement failed last week, with Witkoff taking out his Doha negotiation team after Hamas’ last response said in an agreement “shows a lack of desire to reach a stop the fire in Gaza.”
The integrated food security phase classification, a leading global authority in hunger, said Tuesday that a “worse cases of famine” in Gaza was being carried out. The CPI said on an alert that there was increasing evidence of “generalized hunger, malnutrition and disease.” The CPI said on an alert that there was increasing evidence of “generalized hunger, malnutrition and disease.” According to Palestinian health officials, the number of deaths in the territory has exceeded 60,000, although officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry has said that more than 30% of those killed have been children.
“The Palestinians in Gaza are supporting a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions,” said UN secretary, António Guterres, in a statement on Tuesday in response to the news about a hungry development. “This is not a warning. It is a reality that develops before our eyes. The dripping of aid must become an ocean. Food, water, medicine and fuel must flow in waves and without obstruction.”
Trump has been more Franco this week about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, telling journalists on Monday during his trip to Scotland than the United States “was going to get a lot of money to the area so they can get some food.”
“We can save many people,” Trump said. “I mean, some of those children are, that’s true things of hunger, I see it, and you can’t pretend that.”
Trump had mentioned the idea that the United States established “food centers” in Gaza, which would be done “along with some very good people” where “people can enter” and there would be no “limits.”
On Sunday, Israel announced a “tactical pause” in military operations in Gaza and since then, more than 320 aid trucks have been collected and distributed by the United Nations and international organizations and at least 260 trucks in Gaza, waiting for collection and distribution, according to Israel’s defense forces, citing their COGAT unit that coordinates logistics. In addition, 48 aid packages have shot in coordination with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that his country would work with international agencies, as well as with US and European nations to guarantee large amounts of help in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has affirmed that Hamas is stealing help for civilians, although an analysis of the United States government found no generalized evidence that the militant group was stealing help funded by the United States.
“While the situation in Gaza is difficult and Israel has been working to guarantee the delivery of help, Hamas benefits when trying to feed the perception of a humanitarian crisis,” said Netanyahu.
