US Envoy Visits Gaza Sites As UN Says Hundreds Of Aid-seekers Killed
The visit by Steve Witkoff came as a report from global advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Israeli forces of presiding over "regular bloodbaths" close to the US-backed aid points.
The UN's 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 the US-backed food sites and 514 along routes used by UN and aid agency convoys.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, posted on X that he and Witkoff had visited Gaza "to learn the truth" about the private aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is supported by the United States.
"We received briefings from IDF (the Israeli military) and spoke to folks on the ground. GHF delivers more than one million meals a day, an incredible feat!" Huckabee said.
"Hamas hates GHF because it gets food to people without it being looted by Hamas."
The foundation, on its own X account, posted that it had been a "privilege and honor" to host Witkoff and Huckabee as the group delivered its 100-millionth meal in Gaza, fulfilling Trump's "call to lead with strength, compassion and action".
Gaza's civil defence agency said 11 people were killed by Israeli fire and air strikes on Friday, including two who were waiting near an aid distribution site run by GHF.
GHF largely sidelined the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade that exacerbated existing shortages of food and other essentials.
In its report on the GHF centres on Friday, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli military of illegally using starvation as a weapon of war.
"Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
"US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths."
Responding to the report, the military said GHF worked independently, but that Israeli soldiers operated "in proximity to the new distribution areas in order to enable the orderly delivery of food".
It accused Hamas of trying to prevent food distribution and said that it was conducting a review of the reported deaths, adding it worked to "minimise, as much as possible, any friction between the civilian population" and its forces.
After arriving in Israel on Thursday, Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to resolve the almost 22-month-old war, feed desperate civilians and free the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants.
Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and free the captives, but is under international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and threatened many more with famine.
Following his discussions with Witkoff, Netanyahu met Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul of Germany, another staunch Israeli ally, who nonetheless delivered a blunt message.
"The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination," Wadephul told reporters after the meeting, urging the government "to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality".
"I have the impression that this has been understood today," he added.
On Thursday, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza and pleading with the Israeli government to secure his release.
"Even the strongest person has a breaking point," his family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel.
"Rom is an example of all the hostages. They must all be brought home now."
On Friday, Wadephul also met relatives of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. According to the German foreign office, among the 49 hostages still held, a "single-digit" number are German-Israeli dual nationals
"Germany continues to do everything in our power to achieve the release of the hostages," Wadephul said, expressing outrage at the video release.
This "horrible" footage reveals "once again the utter depravity of the kidnappers", he added.
The Hamas-led October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli military.
The retaliatory Israeli offensive has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen here as a caricature at a protest in Tel Aviv, is under mounting domestic and international political pressure AFP
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12 hours ago
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Recognizing Palestine would deepen French Muslim-Jewish rift – DW – 08/01/2025
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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "Macron isn't respecting his own engagements," said Unger. He noted that the French president earlier set still-unmet conditions for recognizing Palestinian statehood, including the release of Israeli hostages and the "demilitarization" of Hamas, an Islamist militant group which Israel, the European Union, the United States and others have designated as a terrorist organization. "That explains the Jewish community's anger and disappointment." Other prominent Jewish figures are also sharply critical. "It's an opportunistic decision," lawyer Arno Klarsfeld, son of famous Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, told France's conservative CNews TV. "It cements the divorce with the Jewish community in France, considerably chills relations with Israel and the United States and reinforces Hamas." 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But a June survey from the French Institute of Public Opinion, sponsored by CRIF, shows most first want the remaining Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 attacks freed and Hamas to surrender as conditions. "The majority of French Jews aren't hostile to a two-state solution" under the right conditions, the Jewish council's Unger added. Most also "consider the situation in Gaza with tens of thousands of dead is awful," he said, even as they blame Hamas, not Israel, for the war. Like the CRIF, Pierre Stambul, who heads the small French Jewish Union for Peace, also criticizes Macron's statehood declaration but for different reasons. "It's total hypocrisy," he said. "What France is doing is nothing at all. Many states already recognize the state of Palestine." Rabbi Michel Serfaty, who has worked for years building interfaith ties, was noncommittal about Macron's announcement. "Let's see how our fellow Muslims will react," he said. "What interests many is just to live in peace." 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DW
13 hours ago
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Palestinian territories: What makes a state, a state? – DW – 08/01/2025
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Visoka pointed to recent examples of Western Sahara and Nagorno-Karabakh. States can be recognized by others, but still can face challenges. Places like the Palestinian territories and Kosovo are widely recognized as states, but still face challenges. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The fact that they haven't received approval to become full members of the UN "doesn't make [them] less of a state than other states," said Visoka. But state recognition is a flexible and fluid process. "Unfortunately, recognition remains the weakest part of international law, so there is no treaty, there is no regulation on who is a state, who has the right to recognize other states and which entities are candidates for recognition and statehood," said Visoka. "It is very much defined on a case-by-case basis. All the states don't have unified recognition policy, so they improvise, they adjust and change." 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DW
18 hours ago
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Why are the US and Pakistan making an oil deal? – DW – 08/01/2025
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The energy partnership was unveiled by Trump before the White House on Thursday announced a broader trade agreement with Pakistan, and soon thereafter a 19% tariff rate on Pakistani imports to the US. This is lower than the previous rate of 29% Both countries also hailed the US-Pakistan trade agreement. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it a "landmark deal" that would "enhance our growing cooperation." The Finance Ministry said the deal marked the "beginning of a new era of economic collaboration especially in energy, mines and minerals, IT, cryptocurrency and other sectors," On Friday, Pakistan welcomed the new, lowered, tariff rate, with the Finance Ministry calling it a " balanced and forward-looking approach" from the US. "This development marks an intriguing shift in Pakistan–US relations; from a traditionally geopolitical and strategic partnership toward a more economically focused cooperation," Azeem Khalid, a New York based international affairs expert, told DW. Pakistan's tariff rate is also lower than the 25% imposed on arch-rival neighbor India. In announcing the oil deal, Trump took a jab at New Delhi, quipping that India could one day buy Pakistani oil. "Who knows, maybe they'll be selling oil to India someday!" To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video However, it seems that as of now, oil is flowing in the opposite direction. On Friday, Reuters news agency reported that Pakistan's largest oil refiner, Cnergyico, said it would import 1 million barrels of US crude oil in October via its trading partner, Vitol, a Dutch energy and commodity trading company. "If it is commercially viable and available, we could import at least one cargo per month," Cnergyico's Vice Chairman Usama Qureshi told Reuters. As for Pakistani oil, before this deal, Pakistan made several unsuccessful attempts at offshore exploration in the offshore Indus basin. Estimates of Pakistan's proven recoverable conventional crude oil reserves range from 234 million to 353 million barrels, positioning the country approximately 50th in the world in terms of oil reserves. Untapped oil reserves are believed to be located in Balochistan, with additional prospects in Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As the center of an armed insurgent movement that frequently carries out attacks, developing resources in Balochistan presents security problems. Baloch insurgents perceive resource extraction as a form of economic exploitation by Pakistan's federal government and frequently target these kind of projects with attacks. According to trade law expert Osama Malik, extraction of oil from Balochistan could further alienate a population that is already disgruntled at the exploration of the province's mineral resources by China. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Experts have expressed cautious optimism about the recent deal, as it may attract investment, introduce advanced extraction technologies, and facilitate new field surveys. However, actual extraction of petroleum products remains uncertain without confirmed reserves and the necessary infrastructure in place. "When American companies establish a presence in Balochistan, it is anticipated that the insurgency will not be at its peak," Qamar Cheema, a security analyst, told DW. "As support for these groups diminishes it will lead to a reduction or potential elimination of the insurgency," he added. The US has strategic interests in Balochistan due to its proximity to Iran and Afghanistan. "Washington is focused on establishing a presence in Balochistan, which is rich in minerals and holds significant strategic value due to its proximity to Iran," Cheema said. Washington views Balochistan as a potential monitoring and pressure point for Iranian activities, particularly amid ongoing tensions regarding Iran's nuclear program and its regional influence. The agreement also carries potential implications as Washington aims to reduce Pakistan's growing reliance on China. "Islamabad will also have to balance between the considerable Chinese investment in the energy and mineral sector and future investment by the US," said trade law expert Malik. China is investing billions into developing rail and road links in Pakistan. The $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is intended for shipping Chinese goods via the Xinjiang region across the mountain border through Pakistan and into the Arabian Sea at Balochistan's Gwadar port. "From China's perspective, the entry of US companies into Pakistan's resource exploration sector presents a competitive challenge to Chinese oil and mineral firms. Yet, considering the historical depth of Pakistan–China relations, this situation may serve as a diplomatic bridge rather than a point of contention," said international affairs expert Azeem Khalid. Security expert Cheema, believes Pakistan relies on China for military equipment and on the United States for macroeconomic stability, particularly through the IMF. "This deal is likely to strengthen the economic partnership between Pakistan and the US. Additionally, the US seeks to establish an alternative ally in the region other than India," said Cheema.
