US envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited GHF aid sites in Gaza on Friday, amid mounting criticism of Israel’s starvation policies.
Former UN official Martin Griffiths called the visit “likely to be choreographed” but noted it could bear witness to the crisis, though he doubted it would lead to significant change.
Israel’s ban on international media, denounced by UNRWA for fueling disinformation, continues to obscure the full scale of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe.
Israeli forces have killed at least 1,383 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza since May, when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Front (GHF) took over food distribution, according to the UN human rights office.
Most of these deaths, including 859 near GHF-run aid sites and 514 along food convoy routes, were caused by Israeli military actions, the UN reports.
On Friday, Israeli gunfire killed two and injured over 70 Palestinians waiting for food near the Morag Corridor south of Khan Younis, medics said.
Gaza’s starvation crisis has worsened due to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid, with 154 hunger-related deaths reported, including 89 children.
A mother of eight told Al Jazeera her five-month-old daughter is malnourished, and she lost another child to starvation, saying, “He died in my arms as I was taking him to the hospital.”
Associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, Belkis Wille condemned Israel’s actions as war crimes, stating:
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.