U.S. envoy Witkoff's visit to Gaza criticized as a publicity stunt

Weeks of rising anger over Palestinians starving due to Israel's offensive and aid restrictions had reached all the way to the White House, with President Donald Trump lamenting the sight of emaciated children on the brink of starvation.

Weeks of rising anger over Palestinians starving due to Israel's offensive and aid restrictions had reached all the way to the White House, with President Donald Trump lamenting the sight of emaciated children on the brink of starvation.

On Friday, his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, entered Gaza in a rare visit by high-level U.S. officials to the besieged enclave.

Accompanied by the Israeli military, Witkoff visited an aid distribution site in southern Gaza run by the U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, where hundreds of Palestinians waited desperately behind barbed wire for food.

“Incredible feat!” Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, who accompanied Witkoff, said in a post on X on Friday, after touring GHF's operations and speaking to "folks on the ground."

A food distribution point run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near the Netsarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday.EYAD BABA / AFP - Getty ImagesPalestinians and others inside Gaza have criticized the visit as a public relations stunt for GHF, whose aid distribution process has been marked by chaos, looting and deadly shootings, often by Israeli soldiers, that have killed hundreds of hungry Palestinians seeking aid.