Steve Witkoff, the United States' special envoy to the Middle East, on Friday visited a controversial US-backed aid distribution site in Gaza, one of three such locations near which hundreds of Palestinians have died in recent weeks as they tried to reach scarce food supplies. An Israeli source told CNN on Friday morning that Witkoff had arrived at the aid site in the southern city of Rafah that is run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The GHF was created to replace the United Nations' aid role in Gaza and 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. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee would travel to 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." Witkoff and Huckabee would "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." Friday's visit marks Witkoff's second trip to Gaza. Shortly after Trump took office in January, Witkoff visited the enclave, becoming the first US official to do so in more than a decade. A senior Hamas official condemned Witkoff's trip as little more than 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. "The people of Gaza are not a group of beggars, but a free, proud, and noble people... who seek only their freedom, independence, and return to their homeland." The GHF was established in May after Israel complained that UN aid was reaching Hamas. But an internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza. The analysis, conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), looked into 156 incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse reported by partner organizations between October 2023 and May 2025. The review of the incidents "found no affiliations" with sanctioned groups or foreign terrorist organizations, according to a presentation. — CNN
