WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump said Friday that his envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, had a "great meeting” about food aid during his trip to the region, amid Israel's restrictions on the delivery of direly needed humanitarian assistance
“I spoke to Steve Witkoff. He had a great meeting with a lot of people. And the primary meeting was on food, and he also had some other conversations and I'll tell you about later, but he had a meeting on getting the people fed,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for his weekend break at his Bedminster Golf Club in the state of New Jersey.
His comments came as Witkoff and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited aid centers in Gaza run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Trump previously acknowledged that there is "real starvation" in Gaza and on Thursday said, "It's terrible what's occurring there. Yeah, it's a terrible thing. People are very hungry."
The visit amid mounting criticism of US-Israeli coordination in Gaza, particularly regarding the GHF’s distribution model, which Palestinians have said serves as a tool for displacement under the guise of humanitarian relief, as well as a “death trap” for aid seekers, with more than 1,300 killed since May while waiting for relief supplies.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 154 Palestinians, including 89 children, have died of hunger-related causes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.