The special envoy of the White House for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, moved to Israel on Thursday in which he is his first visit to that country in almost three months. The Witkoff trip aims to address with Israeli leaders, according to Axios. Hours after the arrival of Witkoff to Israel, the white house secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has reported in an appearance before the press that both the special envoy and the United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, will travel to Gaza on Friday. As detailed by the spokeswoman, her mission will be to inspect the food distribution points and work on a plan to deliver more food, in addition to meeting with a representation of the local population to “listen first to this serious situation on the ground.”
The visit occurs after the US president, Donald Trump, has mentioned during the last days that the US and Israel will boost new humanitarian efforts in the enclave, and dates.
The arrival of Witkoff to Israel takes place in the middle of. Diplomatic impulses to shut up weapons and multiply humanitarian flow seemed to reach a climax last week, when it was rumored that Witkoff would travel to Qatar to supervise the closure of the agreement between Israel and the Palestinian militia Hamás. But American envoy himself announced the freezing of these conversations, and accused the Palestinian group of lacking “desire” to close a pact.
While Witkoff met with Israeli prime minister, Benjamín Netanyahu, Trump published a message on his Truth social network in which he held Hamas responsible for the famine situation suffered help distribution.
“The fastest way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the surrender of Hamas and the liberation of the captives,” he said. The comment breaks with the concern that Trump had expressed in previous days in relation to the images of familic children, and can be interpreted as an attempt to pressure the Palestinian militia during a possible resumption of negotiations for a high fire.
Another western president who moves Israel on Thursday is German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Johann Wadephul. In a statement published before starting the trip, the minister said that the solution of the two states [el israelí y el palestino] “It is still the only path that peace, security and dignity can offer to both parties.” For this reason, Wadephul urges the parties to initiate “now” a negotiation that advances towards that result and ensures that the Palestinian state “in the end” of that process will recognize.
The German announcement comes after France and the United Kingdom and announced that it also intends to recognize the Palestinian State in September, during the United Nations General Assembly. The ads of Canada and the United Kingdom have nuances. Ottawa has noticed that he will recognize Palestine if there are democratic reforms in the Palestinian authority, which currently governs the West Bank, and London raised the recognition of Palestine if Israel does not remember a truce in an imminent way. These ads suppose a diplomatic blow to Israel, since the three countries are members of the G7 – the forum made up of some of the world’s greatest powers.
Portugal, on the other hand, announced Thursday that it will begin a process of “consultation” between parliamentary groups to “consider” the recognition of Palestine in September.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops in Gaza continued their offensive in the enclave. A military statement announced operations to “solidify” the control of one of the corridors with which the southern municipality of Khan Yonis fractures, where the military note notified the arrest of an indeterminate number of “terrorists”.
Army hostilities caused at least 111 fatal victims in 24 hours, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, of which 91 were waiting for the arrival of help.
Meanwhile, the Israeli troops in Gaza are followed by the army offensive continues in the same territory in which seven more people have starved in the last hours, raising to 154 the total of deaths for that cause since 2023. In addition, a seventy of Gazatis died on Wednesday when the fire reached them while they are piled up on the routes they take to the border steps Trucks with food.
One of those incidents happened in the vicinity of the passage of Zikim, the only one where help enters the north of the enclave. The Gaza government press office reported 51 dead and 648 wounded during those events. Other Gazati sources indicate to this newspaper that the balance subsequently rose to 58 fatalities. Different voices in the strip accuse the Israeli army of shooting against the crowd. Preliminary and internal investigation of the occupant army itself rules out. “The forces [israelíes] They shot to disperse, but not against the agglomeration, in response to a perceived threat, ”says the military statement. And he concludes:” The initial investigation shows that there have been no victims as a result of the Fire of the Israeli army. “
An apocalyptic video published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Thursday shows a similar incident that occurred the previous day in the vicinity of Kerem Sharem Sharem, in the south of the enclave. In the images thousands of men with a tired face – some children; others, elderly – struggling between them and running towards a humanitarian convoy despite the Israeli shots. The humanitarian sector warns that these avalanches are a consequence of the shortage and advise to “flood” the enclave with basic supplies to avoid despair, looting and subsequent resale with prices that escape the possibilities of the majority.
The international community had hope that last weekend they had the ability to stop the progress of the Gazati society towards the famine, a risk that, the system of experts on food crisis backed by the UN. But Israeli measures have not resulted in a significant impact on the ground. Less than 100 trucks have accessed the enclave every day, according to independent Gazati groups. The figure is a fraction of the 700 required by UN agencies and the 1,000 that claim humanitarian cooperators inside the strip. In addition, most of them have been looted, unable to reach the UN stores that prepare their equitable distribution between the Gazati society as a whole, including the most vulnerable profiles.
Impulse to negotiations
In the midst of that endless cycle of hunger and violence, it is expected that the arrival of Witkoff to Israel will impulse new efforts in the negotiations for a truce with Hamas. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office, Benjamín Netanyahu, has indicated that the president will meet with Witkoff at 2:00 p.m. local time. The meeting occurs after Israel has returned to the mediators an updated truce proposal after reviewing the amendments proposed by the Palestinian militia, according to Axios. According to the same source, Netanyahu advisers met this week in Miami with the Secretary of State of the White House, Marco Rubio.
The set of these information suggests the resumption of the conversations after both Israel and the USA retired from the negotiating table last week to, in a gesture that later described families of the hostages as part of a strategy to gain “strength” in negotiation with the Palestinians.
The other great objective of the Witkoff trip is to address the humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave. Israeli newspapers indicate that Trump’s envoy could make a visit to the Strip, where he would inspect the facilities of the controversial food distribution entity promoted by the US governments and Israel. More than 1,000 people have died shot inside or in the vicinity of these distribution areas.
“The president wants to know more about the humanitarian situation in the strip to be able to increase the assistance towards the civilians of the enclave,” he admitted in statements to Axios a high position of the White House as anonymity. Trump recognized on Tuesday that the images of the hungry children in the enclave had caused impact on both his wife and him: “She thinks it is terrible,” he said in statements to the press: “And see the same images as all of us. Unless you are very insensitive, or worse, crazy, there is nothing you can say beyond that it is terrible to see those children.”
