U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. AFP
Witkoff's visit to Tel Aviv comes amid growing international criticism and condemnation of the US support to Israel in its war in Gaza and its five-month-old blockade on the strip that plunged 2.3 million Palestinians into a famine.
Witkoff was set to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss humanitarian aid and the “next steps” on Gaza, amid growing condemnation of the Israeli- and US-backed GHF as death traps for starving Palestinians.
Since May, Israel has killed and wounded hundreds of starving Palestinians at so-called aid centres to distribute flour, after it imposed an all-out blockade on Gaza since 2 March.
Last week, Witkoff abruptly walked away from Gaza ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, after claiming that the Palestinian group was negotiating in bad faith.
In response, Hamas charged that Israel, backed by the US, was dragging talks to buy time for more killing in Gaza.
However, amid global outrage at the Israeli genocide as images of tens of starving, emaciated Palestinians, including children, sent shivers down the spines of millions around the world, the US envoy declared that Washington would continue to push for a ceasefire deal between the two sides.
Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 22nd month, killed at least 60,249 Palestinians and wounded more than 150,000 others, mostly women and children.
This week, UN aid agencies warned that deaths from starvation had already begun.
Witkoff's visit to Israel comes as Israel and the US face mounting international pressure to agree to a ceasefire and allow unfettered aid access for Gazans, with four major Western countries, including France, the UK, and Canada, announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
In Israel, in a press conference on Monday, opposition leader Yair Lapid lambasted the strategic failure of the Netanyahu-led government in Gaza and said he has a plan to end the war.
“Only the Netanyahu government refuses to discuss the question of how the war will end. It has not presented any plan, any political vision.”
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