Trump officials visit controversial aid site in Gaza

CNN

14 hours ago

Update:
Date: 19 min ago
Title: Witkoff says he spent over five hours in Gaza to better understand humanitarian situation
Content:
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said he visited Gaza on Friday to better understand the humanitarian situation in the enclave and to relay it to US President Donald Trump.
'Today, we spent over five hours in Gaza – level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation officials) and other agencies,' Witkoff wrote on X.
He said the purpose of the visit 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 envoy also said that he and Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, met with Israeli officials Thursday to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Update:
Date: 1 hr 12 min ago
Title: Huckabee praised GHF for distributing 100 million meals in Gaza. Here's why that's not enough
Content:
Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, praised the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) for delivering more than 100 million meals in the territory since it was launched in May.
When Huckabee visited Gaza Friday, he was pictured in front of posters reading '100,000,000 meals delivered.'
'GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!' Huckabee wrote on X. 'Over 100 MILLION meals served in 2 months,' he wrote in a separate post.
If 100 million meals have been distributed to each of Gaza's 2.1 million people, that works out at just one meal a day for 47 days for every resident. The GHF has been operating for nearly 70 days.
It is also unlikely that GHF meals have been able to reach all of Gaza's residents. There are only three active distribution sites in the enclave, in southern and central Gaza – far fewer than hundreds under the previous aid model run by the United Nations. This has forced massive crowds to gather at GHF locations, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, according to the UN.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said that the 'flawed' GHF mechanism 'is not designed to address the humanitarian crisis,' but to serve 'military and political objectives.'
He said UNRWA has 6,000 trucks filled with aid waiting to enter Gaza, and has demanded that they be allowed in.
Update:
Date: 2 hr 48 min ago
Title: China slams US decision to sanction Palestinian officials
Content:
China has slammed the United States' decision to impose sanctions on members of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestinian Authority (PA) for not being 'in compliance' with some of their commitments.
'China is appalled by the US decision to sanction Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday on X.
'We find it disappointing and hard to understand that the US keeps turning a blind eye to the international effort for peace.'
The sanctions, announced in a statement Thursday, would deny US visas to the unnamed Palestinian officials. The move appears to be a further step to punish those looking into alleged crimes committed by Israel as the war in Gaza continues. It was announced as special envoy Steve Witkoff was visiting Israel and as diplomatic talks in Doha to try to achieve a ceasefire are on ice.
According to the statement, the State Department told Congress that the PA and the PLO 'are not in compliance with their commitments' under certain laws.
Update:
Date: 3 hr 8 min ago
Title: France halts all evacuations from Gaza over alleged antisemitic reposts by Palestinian student
Content:
The French government will deport a Gaza student accused of reposting alleged antisemitic content on her social media and halt all evacuations from the territory, the country's foreign minister said Friday as outrage grows over her reposts.
'She must leave the country. She does not have a place in France,' Jean-Noël Barrot said in a radio interview, without saying if authorities would return the student back to Gaza.
The minister did not name the woman, who has also been expelled from her university in the French city of Lille.
The incident has sparked a political firestorm, with the interior minister saying that her content amounts to 'Hamas propaganda.'
The French and Israeli vetting of her before she arrived in France did not reveal the 'antisemitic and unacceptable' posts, Barrot said, adding that all French evacuations from Gaza would now be suspended pending the results of an inquiry into the case.
France has evacuated hundreds of people from Gaza since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, and just last Tuesday Barrot said France was 'dedicating lots of energy,' to get starving journalists from French news agency AFP out of the enclave. The foreign ministry has yet to say if these evacuations will continue.
Barrot added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is 'inhumane,' describing it as a 'scandal that must stop immediately.'
The woman's university, Sciences Po Lille, did not specify the posts that drew controversy, but said the content was 'in direct contradiction' with its values.
The college said it had annulled the student's enrolment after consulting with several government agencies including the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, whose minister called the student's alleged comments 'extreme.'
Update:
Date: 3 hr 31 min ago
Title: US ambassador to Israel praises GHF after Gaza visit
Content:
Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, praised the controversial US-backed aid mechanism in Gaza after his visit to the enclave on Friday.
'Went into Gaza today & observed humanitarian food program by US launched GHF,' Huckabee wrote on his personal X account, after visiting Gaza with US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
He said Hamas 'hates' GHF (the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) because its food reaches Palestinians in Gaza without 'being looted by Hamas.'
He also praised GHF for delivering 'over 100 MILLION meals' in two months.
GHF was founded in May after Israel complained that the United Nations aid distribution scheme allowed food to end up in the hands of Hamas.
But an internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza.
GHF has been widely criticized for failing to improve conditions as the starvation crisis deepens. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food, hundreds of them near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF disputes this.
Update:
Date: 3 hr 30 min ago
Title: Aid airdrops into Gaza are '100 times more costly' than land routes, UNRWA says
Content:
Dropping aid into Gaza from the sky is 100 times more expensive than delivering it in trucks via land routes, the head of UNRWA, the main United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, said Friday.
'Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks. Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes,' Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
Airdrops have been conducted by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and others since Israel allowed them again last week. The UN warned earlier that airdrops are dangerous as well as costly, while Palestinians in Gaza have told CNN they resent having no choice but to chase after airdropped aid 'like dogs.'
'If there is political will to allow airdrops – which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings,' the UNRWA commissioner-general said.
Lazzarini said his agency has 6,000 trucks loaded with aid waiting for the green light to enter Gaza. Israel insists on inspecting all trucks before they cross into the territory.
Lazzarini added that during the ceasefire that lasted from January to March, UNRWA was able to bring in 500 to 600 trucks a day.
'No alternative to the UN coordinated response with UNRWA as the backbone had provided similar results,' he said, in an apparent swipe at the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which sidelined the UN in its role in distributing aid.
Update:
Date: 2 hr 55 min ago
Title: Gaza residents urge Witkoff to see the "real" suffering on visit to aid distribution center
Content:
US special envoy Steve Witkoff's trip to an aid distribution site in Gaza was met with hope, skepticism and anger from its citizens as starvation spreads through the territory.
Hatem Abu Rahma, a Gaza resident, said he hoped Witkoff's visit to Rafah would lead to a ceasefire agreement that 'puts an end to the starvation.'
'My message to the US envoy, Mr. Witkoff, is to intensify efforts to end the war and relieve the suffering of thousands of people in Gaza. It's now clear to everyone that Gaza is no longer livable, there's no education, no healthcare, and starvation continues to this day,' Abu Rahma told CNN.
Raed Radwan, another Gaza citizen, was less optimistic that Witkoff's visit would have any positive results, calling the trip 'provocative' amid clear images that a humanitarian crisis is gripping the enclave.
'This is a naive visit. Honestly, I consider it an insult to all the reports issued by international news agencies about the famine in Gaza,' Radwan said. 'All the deaths from famine and malnutrition, and the emaciated bodies… they still don't believe it and are sending someone to confirm it?'
Radwan described food distribution in Gaza as 'putting food for the animals in a cage,' where only the strongest can get their hands on flour.
'I am demanding that the American administration provide us with safety and protection and allow aid to be delivered to the unarmed civilians,' he pleaded.
Nima Hassan, a Gaza resident, said that the destroyed city of Rafah has become 'a destination for the occupation and its guests.'
'To Witkoff, the war guest: We hope that during your visit, you will not be satisfied with the picture presented to you by the Israeli side,' Hassan added. 'Try to understand the real situation in the Gaza Strip.'
Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting to this post.
Update:
Date: 5 hr 24 min ago
Title: Senior Hamas official slams US envoy's 'staged' visit to Gaza
Content:
A senior Hamas official condemned US envoy Steve Witkoff's trip to Gaza on Friday as a 'staged personal visit' and a photo opportunity.
'Mr. Witkoff, Gaza is not an animal farm that requires a staged personal visit to take some personal photos in front of the death traps overseen by your American companies,' Basem Naim, a former Palestinian health minister in Gaza, said in a statement shared with CNN.
'To remind you once again: The people of Gaza are not a group of beggars, but a free, proud, and noble people (if you understand what these words mean), who seek only their freedom, independence, and return to their homeland,' Naim said.
Witkoff entered the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Friday to visit a controversial US-backed aid distribution site, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)
Naim said the GHF distribution mechanism was a 'humanitarian scandal.' The mechanism was set up to replace the United Nations' aid role in Gaza, after Israeli officials complained that UN aid was making it to Hamas.
But the GHF mechanism has been broadly criticized for failing to improve conditions as starvation spreads in Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food, hundreds of them near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF disputes this.
Update:
Date: 4 hr 39 min ago
Title: Why people in Gaza feel aid packages from Israel are like "a drop in the ocean"
Content:
The Israeli military said that over 43 aid packages were airdropped into Gaza on Thursday. The packages contain food for residents in southern and northern Gaza — which residents say is like 'a drop in the ocean.'
Hear from residents below:
The Israeli military said that over 43 aid packages were airdropped into Gaza on Thursday. The packages contain food for residents in southern and northern Gaza - which residents say is like 'a drop in the ocean."
Update:
Date: 7 hr 42 min ago
Title: Witkoff arrives at aid distribution site in Gaza
Content:
President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has arrived at an aid distribution site in Rafah in southern Gaza, the director of a company working with the aid distributor Gaza Humanitarian Foundation told CNN.
Yesterday, the White House announced the trip to Gaza by Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
'Tomorrow, special envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a Thursday media briefing.
Witkoff and Huckabee 'will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region,' she said, adding that the White House will provide more details 'once that plan is approved and agreed on by the president of the United States.'
This will be Witkoff's second trip to Gaza. Shortly after Trump took office, Witkoff visited the enclave, becoming the first US official to do so in more than a decade.
Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday, one week after the US pulled back from Gaza ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas for negotiating in 'bad faith.'