At least 39 Palestinians were killed from Friday into Saturday while seeking aid, as top U.S. officials toured Gaza and met with the families of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. The visit, meant to give President Donald Trump a “clear understanding of the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, was criticized by an American nurse volunteering in the enclave.
On Friday, Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, arrived in Gaza and toured an aid distribution site operated by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). In a post on X, Huckabee commended the work of GHF, calling it “an incredible feat.”
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However, Ellie Burgos, an American nurse volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis, criticized the visit as a “public relations stunt.”
“It was a PR stunt, a controlled visit supervised and dictated by the Israeli military,” Burgos told NBC News. “What they saw was not the reality.”
Burgos added, “Food is still incredibly difficult to find, people are still being shot at aid distribution sites, and violence continues.”
Witkoff meets with hostage families
On Saturday, Witkoff traveled to Tel Aviv, where he met with representatives of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which was holding a protest in an area of the city dubbed “Hostage Square.” The protests followed the release of undated videos from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad of two hostages –– Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski.
According to CNN, both of the men are emaciated in the videos, and at least one of the videos was cut with images of starving children in Gaza.
“We don’t understand what they are doing all day in the Knesset (parliament) committees –– talking? Debating? Rom has been there for almost two years, and no one has even called to update us,” Braslavski’s family said in a statement.
According to a source who was at Witkoff’s meeting with the forum members, the U.S. special envoy said, “The plan is not to expand the war, but to end it. We think the negotiations should be changed to all or nothing. End the war and bring all 50 hostages home at the same time – that’s the only way.”
Of the 50 hostages still in Hamas captivity, it is thought that roughly 20 are alive.
Witkoff’s “all or nothing” plan echoes a similar comment from the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff, who said Friday that the war will continue “without rest” if an agreement is not reached.
“I estimate that in the coming days we will know whether we can reach an agreement for the release of our hostages,” said Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. “If not, the combat will continue without rest.”
‘Worst-case scenario of famine’
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 39 people were killed while seeking aid on Saturday, and another seven died of malnutrition. In total, 169 deaths have been attributed to hunger-related causes since the start of the war in October 2023.
While eyewitnesses, photos, videos and testimony from hospital staff and international aid organizations all corroborate accounts of Palestinians being killed by the IDF while seeking aid, GHF maintained on Saturday that “nothing (happened) at or near our sites,” according to reporting from The Associated Press.
The IDF also maintains that it doesn’t fire shots into crowds, but will fire warning shots at civilians who approach its troops. However, the AP notes that on Friday, the Israeli military acknowledged it was “working to make the routes under its control safer.”
On Friday, the U.N. agency that oversees Palestinian relief, UNRWA, posted on X that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.” The group added that as of July 30, 87% of the Strip remains under Israeli military control.
Similarly, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini criticized recent aid airdrops conducted by Israel, Jordan and several European countries.
“Airdrops are at least 100 times more costly than trucks. Trucks carry twice as much aid as planes,” Lazzarini wrote. “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.”
The current situation in Gaza unfolded after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Roughly 1,200 people were killed, and around 250 were taken hostage. Since then, Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians while plunging the enclave into famine and widespread starvation.
