US envoy Witkoff visits aid operation in Gaza rejected by UN as unsafe

President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy became the first high profile U.S. official to visit Gaza since the war began, touring a U.S.-backed aid operation on Friday that the United Nations says is partly to blame for deadly conditions in the enclave.

Steve Witkoff visited a site run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in what he said was a bid to put together a new aid plan for the war-shattered territory.

The U.N. has declined to work with the GHF, which it says distributes aid in ways that are inherently dangerous and violate humanitarian neutrality principles, contributing to the hunger crisis across the territory.

The GHF says nobody has been killed at its distribution points, and that it is doing a better job of protecting aid deliveries than the U.N.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who traveled with Witkoff to Gaza on Friday, posted on X a picture showing hungry Gazans behind razor wire with a GHF poster with a big American flag that read "100,000,000 meals delivered".

"President Trump understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority," GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said in a statement, accompanied by images of Witkoff in a grey camouflage top, flak jacket and "Make America Great Again" baseball cap with Trump's name stitched on the back.

"We were honoured to brief his delegation, share our operations, and demonstrate the impact of delivering 100 million meals to those who need them most," Fay said.

Witkoff said on X that he had also met with other agencies.

"The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS (Trump) a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza," Witkoff said.

He visited Gaza a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Israel under mounting international pressure over the devastation of Gaza and growing starvation among its 2.2 million inhabitants.

Israel says it is taking steps to let in more aid, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.

Israel blames Hamas and the U.N. for the failure of food to get to desperate Palestinians in Gaza. 

The Israeli military's statistics show that an average of around 140 aid trucks have entered Gaza daily during the course of the war, about a quarter of what international humanitarian agencies say is required.

On Friday, the Israeli military said that 200 trucks of aid were distributed by the U.N. and other organizations on Thursday, with hundreds more waiting to be picked up from the border crossings inside Gaza.

The United Nations says it has thousands of trucks still waiting, if Israel would let them in without the stringent security measures which aid groups say have prevented the entry of much-needed humanitarian assistance throughout the war.

Israel has begun food air drops this week, but U.N. agencies say these are a poor alternative to letting in more trucks.

"If there is political will to allow airdrops - which are highly costly, insufficient & inefficient, there should be similar political will to open the road crossings. As the people of Gaza are starving to death, the only way to respond to the famine is to flood Gaza with assistance," U.N. Palestinian aid agency chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media site X.

Philippe Lazzarini has always been very hostile toward Israel. He is not neutral.

Many UNRWA members directly participated in the October 7 massacres.