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US’s Witkoff, Huckabee visit GHF aid site: Report
US envoy Steve Witkoff and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee have now visited a GHF-run aid distribution point in Gaza, reports Israel’s Ynet News site.
The two officials will report on the site’s conditions to US President Trump, who recently expressed concerns about the worsening humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Bloodshed at GHF-run aid sites ‘a great sin’: Ex-UN official
Martin Griffiths, director of Mediation Group International and the former Under Secretary General of the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office, says the US and Israel-backed GHF’s aid distribution system has turned into a “catastrophe”, as the number of aid seekers killed continues to climb beyond 1,000.
“I think when many of us saw the first plans of the GHF to launch this operation in Gaza, we were immediately appalled by the way they were proposing to manage it,” Griffiths told Al Jazeera.
“It was clearly militarised. They’d have their own security contractors. They’d have [Israeli military] camps placed right beside them. We know now that they are, in fact, under instructions by [the Israeli military]. All of this is a crime. All of this is a deep betrayal of humanitarian values.”
“But what I at least did not sufficiently anticipate was the killing and was the absolutely critical result of this operation, this sole humanitarian operation allowed by Israel in Gaza,” Griffiths added.
“The 1,000 killed are an incredible statistic. I had no idea it would go that high and it’s going on daily. It’s not stopping.”
“I think it’s a catastrophe more than a disappointment,” he said. “I think it’s a great sin. I think it’s a great crime.”
US envoy’s planned aid site visit likely to be ‘choreographed’
As we reported earlier, US envoy Steve Witkoff and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are planning to visit GHF-run aid distribution sites in Gaza today.
Martin Griffiths, the UN’s former under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, says while the visit is “likely to be choreographed”, it’s still an “important form of witness”.
“I’m glad that they’re going,” Griffiths, now the director of Mediation Group International, told Al Jazeera. “Maybe they will see things that are unexpected. I can’t imagine because we’ve seen so much. But I don’t see it leading to a major change.”
“If I was one of the two million Gazans starving to death, this is a day I would like to go to an aid distribution point,” Griffiths added. “There’s slightly less risk probably than any other day.”
