Trump envoy visits controversial Gaza aid distribution site

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has for the first time visited a controversial Israel- and US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza.

Witkoff said the purpose of the trip to a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site was to give Trump “a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza”.

The visit follows near daily reports of deadly shootings at GHF points, with the UN reporting at least 859 Palestinians killed in the vicinity of the sites – a figure the GHF rejects.

Israel says its troops have only fired warning shots and that they do not intentionally shoot civilians.

International journalists, including the BBC, are blocked by Israel from entering Gaza independently, making it difficult to verify claims.

The BBC understands Witkoff visited one of the GHF sites near Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday.

He was accompanied by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Posting on X afterwards, alongside pictures of their visit, Witkoff said: “Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza – level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with @GHFUpdates and other agencies.”

Huckabee said they had received “briefings from the IDF and spoke to folks on the ground”.

He claimed GHF sites were delivering “more than one million meals a day”, calling it an “incredible feat”.

The GHF said it had delivered 1.3m meals across three distribution sites on Thursday. It has not yet released figures for Friday. The UN says the number of meals provided by the GHF falls far short of overall nutritional requirements.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned that man-made, mass starvation is taking place in the territory.

Some Gazans who spoke to the BBC denounced Witkoff’s visit as a “media stunt”.

Louay Mahmoud, who lives in Gaza, said: “Steve Witkoff won’t see the hunger, only the narrative Israel wants him to see.

“This visit is a hollow media stunt, not a humanitarian mission. He comes with no solutions, only talking points designed to polish the image of an administration complicit in our suffering.”

Amer Khayrat, a father of two who lives in Gaza City, said: “What Gaza needs isn’t another envoy with a press team. We need the siege lifted, the bombing stopped, and the blind American support for this war brought to an end.”

Oxfam’s Americas director of peace and security, Scott Paul, said Witkoff and Huckabee during their visit would have been “confronted by scenes of countless Palestinian children and their families on the brink of starvation displaced in flattened communities outside their convoy windows”.

He added: “This must be what finally spurs the US to use its full influence to put an end to this catastrophe before we pass the point of no return.”