Using Bulletproof Vests, AS Witkoff Envoy Visits Relief Operation Locations In Gaza

President Donald Trump's Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff (center)/PHOTO via X @USAMbIsrael

JAKARTA - President Donald Trump's envoy to the Middle East became the first top US official to visit Gaza since the war began.

Steve Witkoff visited a US-backed aid operation on Friday, August 1, which the United Nations (UN) said was also responsible for the deadly conditions in the area.

Hours after Steve Witkoff visited a location managed by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in Rafah, Palestinian medics said Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians near one of the group's locations in the city on the southern edge of Gaza.

Reuters could not immediately verify whether the location was the same.

The United Nations said more than 1,000 people had died while trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating there in May, most of which were shot by Israeli forces operating near the GHF site.

The United Nations refuses to cooperate with the GHF, which the United Nations says distributes aid in a dangerous way and violates the principles of humanitarian neutrality, thus contributing to the hunger crisis across the region.

The GHF said no one had died at its distribution points, and they were doing a better job of protecting aid shipments than the United Nations.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee who traveled with Witkoff to Gaza, posted on X footo showing Gazans starving behind barbed wire with GHF posters depicting the large American flag reading "100,000,000 foods delivered".

"President Trump understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, should be a priority," a GHF spokesman, Chapin Fay, said in a statement, accompanied by a photo of Witkoff wearing a gray camouflage top, satellited vest, and baseball cap "Make America Great Again" under Trump's name sewn on the back.

"We are honored to be able to brief the delegation, share our operations, and show the impact of sending 100 million meals to those most in need," Fay said.

Witkoff made his visit to Gaza the day after arriving in Israel to push for negotiations on a new ceasefire, as Israel was under growing international pressure over Gaza's destruction and rising hunger among its 2.2 million population.

In addition to the three people shot near the GHF location, medical officers said 12 other Palestinians were killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Friday.