US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss ways to end the crisis in Gaza, where nearly 22 months of grinding war and dire shortages of food have drawn mounting international criticism.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported dozens of Palestinians killed late Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd attempting to block an aid convoy — the latest in a spate of near-daily incidents of desperate aid seekers being shot.
The Israeli military confirmed having fired “warning shots” as Gazans gathered around aid trucks, but said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident. An AFP correspondent saw the bullet-riddled corpses of Palestinians in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.
Jameel Ashour, who lost a relative in the shooting, told AFP at the overflowing morgue that Israel troops had opened fire after a crowd surged towards the convoy.
“When people saw thieves stealing and dropping food, the hungry crowd rushed in hopes of getting some,” he said.
With indirect ceasefire and hostage release negotiations between Hamas and Israel at an impasse, Witkoff will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss humanitarian aid and the “next steps” on Gaza.
He may also visit a US-backed humanitarian group distributing food in Gaza, according to Israeli reports.
Witkoff has been the top US representative in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, but the discussions broke down last week when Israel and the United States recalled their delegations from Doha.
Israel is under mounting international pressure to agree a ceasefire and allow the world to flood a hungry Gaza with food, with Canada the latest Western country to announce plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
– MAGA doubts –
Trump has been Israel’s staunchest international defender at a time when concerns about the campaign in Gaza have left Netanyahu increasingly isolated on the world stage, but the two leaders have occasionally found themselves at odds of late.
Earlier this week Trump promised to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning that the territory faces “real starvation” — directly contradicting Netanyahu’s insistence that reports of hunger were exaggerated.
UN-backed experts, meanwhile, have reported “famine is now unfolding” in Gaza, with news images of sick and emaciated children drawing outrage and powers like France, the UK and now Canada lining up to support Palestinian statehood.
Trump is now reportedly concerned that his most fervent domestic US supporters, the so-called “MAGA base”, are turning against Israel.
Israel is also under pressure to resolve the crisis from other traditional supporters.
Germany’s top diplomat Johann Wadephul was expected in Jerusalem on Thursday for talks with Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
– ‘Warning shots’ –
In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that the worsening suffering of civilians in Gaza left “no room for delay in coordinated international action to support peace”.
Israel blasted Canada’s announcement as part of a “distorted campaign of international pressure”, while Trump warned that trade negotiations with Ottawa could be hurt by what Washington regards as a premature bid to back Palestine.
The fighting in Gaza has lasted for almost 22 months, triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which left 1,219 people dead, according to a tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 Israelis kidnapped that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, 27 of them declared dead by the Israeli military.
The Israeli campaign has since killed 60,249 Palestinians, according to a tally from the Hamas government’s health ministry, and this week UN aid agencies warned that deaths from starvation had begun.
In the incident Wednesday night, Gaza’s civil defence agency said gunfire killed at least 58 people in a crowd gathered around a humanitarian aid convoy in the north of the territory.
According to an AFP correspondent and witnesses, the trucks had entered Gaza through the Israeli military checkpoint at Zikim, on their way to World Central Kitchen and the World Food Programme warehouses in Gaza City.
Thousands of people rushed to stop the trucks before they continued to the warehouses, and shooting erupted.
Separately, the Hamas-led Gaza government’s health ministry issued a statement Thursday begging Palestinians not to loot a new aid convoy, warning that it contained no food but instead medical supplies for the territory’s hard-pressed hospitals.
Another 32 people were reported killed by the civil defence on Thursday in Israeli attacks across Gaza.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties.
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