US special envoy Steve Whitkoff is scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip on Friday to tour aid distribution centres, the White House said.
Whitkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will seek to “secure a plan to deliver more food, as well as meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this terrible situation on the ground,” White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Thursday.
She said the special envoy and ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to “approve a final plan for food and aid distribution in the region.”
Earlier, Witkoff held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli media reported that their discussion centred on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli hostages held by the Hamas group (recognised as terrorist by the US and EU), and the Iran issue.
Witkoff’s visit comes amid international outrage over mounting evidence of mass starvation in Gaza and the stalemate in ceasefire talks.
Israel is under intense international pressure over what aid organisations say is a mass famine in the Gaza Strip, with human rights activists and world governments accusing Israel of blocking humanitarian aid. Netanyahu claims there is no famine and that Israel is sending enough aid, but it is being stolen by Hamas.