Witkoff, Huckabee to tour Gaza food distribution sites Friday as US plans to ramp up aid

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will enter Gaza on Friday in order to tour food distribution sites ahead of the rollout of a new US plan for getting aid into the Strip, the White House announces.

Witkoff and Huckabee held a “very productive” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials on the topic of getting aid into Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says during a press briefing.

The two senior US officials will “inspect the current distribution sites [to] secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground,” Leavitt says.

Immediately after their visit, Witkoff and Huckabee will brief US President Donald Trump “to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution,” the White House press secretary says, adding that more details will be provided once the plan is approved.

Trump announced on Monday that new food centers would be established in Gaza to alleviate the hunger crisis. He provided few details on the matter, other than saying that there would be no fences at the sites so that Palestinians wouldn’t be blocked from accessing food.

On Tuesday, he said that Israel would be responsible for managing the sites — something that the IDF has been reluctant to do, fearing that it would put troops in danger.

It wasn’t clear whether Trump was referring to the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Israel has contracted to run food distribution sites for the past two months, as it tries to box Hamas out of the process.