{"id":2021,"date":"2025-08-01T09:38:55","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/trump-envoy-to-visit-gaza-aid-sites-as-israel-accused-of-starvation-policy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:38:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:38:55","slug":"trump-envoy-to-visit-gaza-aid-sites-as-israel-accused-of-starvation-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/trump-envoy-to-visit-gaza-aid-sites-as-israel-accused-of-starvation-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump envoy to visit Gaza aid sites as Israel accused of starvation policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US to assess \u2018dire situation\u2019 in Gaza as Human Rights Watch calls Israeli killings of people seeking aid a \u2018war crime\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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United States President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Gaza to inspect aid distribution as pressure mounts on Israel over its starvation policy<\/a> in the war-torn Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

Witkoff will travel to Gaza on Friday with US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to inspect aid distribution as condemnation of Israel grows over famine in Gaza and reports that more than 1,000 desperately hungry Palestinians have been killed since May at food distribution sites operated by the notorious US and Israeli-backed GHF.<\/a><\/p>\n

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Witkoff would visit \u201cdistribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe special envoy and the ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

The visit by the top US envoy comes a day after more than 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory and health officials reported the deaths of two more children from starvation<\/a>, adding to the Gaza Health Ministry\u2019s confirmed death toll of 154 people who have died from \u201cfamine and malnutrition\u201d \u2013 including 89 children \u2013 in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

On Friday, at least another two people were killed and more than 70 were injured while waiting for food supplies<\/a> near the Morag Corridor south of Khan Younis, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic report.<\/p>\n

Witkoff met with Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after his arrival in the country on Thursday, the Israeli leader\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Trump contradicted Netanyahu\u2019s insistence that reports of hunger in Gaza were untrue, with the US leader saying the enclave was experiencing \u201creal starvation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The United Nations and independent experts had warned for months that starvation was taking hold in Gaza due to the Israeli military blockade on humanitarian relief, and this week, they said that \u201cfamine is now unfolding\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018War crime\u2019<\/h2>\n

In a report on Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Israel\u2019s use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, a \u201cwar crime\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraeli 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,\u201d said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW.<\/p>\n

\u201cUS-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The rights group called on states to press Israel to immediately stop its use of lethal force against Palestinian civilians and lift its restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza. It also urged that the US and Israel suspend the GHF distribution system.<\/p>\n

Angered by Israel\u2019s denial of aid and ongoing attacks on Gaza\u2019s population, the United Kingdom, Canada and Portugal this week became the latest Western governments to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France will recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, following Spain, Norway and Ireland\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

Some 142 countries out of the 193 members of the UN currently recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Following a meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, Germany\u2019s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said \u201cthe humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the impression that this has been understood today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a vibrant centre of Palestinian life, much of Gaza has been pulverised by Israeli bombardments, with more than 60,000 Palestinians killed and almost 150,000 wounded since October 2023, after the Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed an estimated 1,139 people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US to assess \u2018dire situation\u2019 in Gaza as Human Rights Watch calls Israeli killings of people seeking aid a \u2018war crime\u2019. United States President Donald Trump\u2019s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Gaza to inspect aid distribution as pressure mounts on Israel over its starvation policy in the war-torn Palestinian territory. Witkoff will travel … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}