Hunt for truth as aid deaths rise : US envoy visits Gaza sites, promises more food

TDT | Agencies

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President Donald Trump’s special envoy promised a plan to deliver more food to Gaza after inspecting a US-backed distribution centre yesterday, as the UN human rights office said Israeli forces had killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians waiting for aid.

The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces of presiding over “regular bloodbaths” close to US-backed aid points run by the private Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The UN human rights office in the Palestinian territories said at least 1,373 people had been killed seeking aid in Gaza since May 27 — 105 of them in the last two days of July.

“Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,” the UN office said, breaking down the death toll into 859 killed near GHF food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys.

Witkoff said he had spent more than five hours inside Gaza, in a post accompanied by a photograph of himself wearing a protective vest and meeting staff at a GHF distribution centre.

“The purpose of the visit was to give POTUS a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” he said, referring to Trump.

Trump himself echoed this in a phone call with US news site Axios, touting a plan to “get people fed.”

“We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened a long time ago,” Trump said, according to Axios.

The US leader repeated Israeli claims that Hamas is responsible for stealing much of the aid that makes it into Gaza, but did not say whether his plan would involve reinforcing GHF or creating a whole new mechanism, the report said.

The foundation said it had delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza during the visit by Witkoff and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.