US envoy says Trump-backed Gaza aid mechanism to take effect soon, denies rift with Israel

A US-backed mechanism for distributing aid into Gaza should take effect soon, Washington’s ambassador to Israel said on Friday, ahead of President Donald Trump‘s visit to the Middle East, but he gave few details.

Gaza‘s residents are facing a growing humanitarian crisis with Israel enforcing a months-long blockade on aid supplies to the small Palestinian enclave following the collapse of the most recent ceasefire. Israel has said the Hamas terror group has previously stolen much of the aid entering the territory, using it to maintain control over the population.

Israel and the US both indicated in recent days that they were preparing to restore aid through mechanisms that would bypass Hamas.

Ambassador Mike Huckabee said Friday that several partners had already committed to taking part in the aid arrangement but declined to name them, saying details would be released in the coming days.

Huckabee also rejected the notion that Washington was “pulling away” from close ties with Jerusalem or that it was trying to sidestep the Israeli government, describing the relations as very close, the day after a report claimed that the Trump administration was no longer demanding that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel as part of a nuclear pact with Riyadh.

“Under Trump, the special relationship has never been stronger,” he told reporters at the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were on a “pathway” to a civil nuclear agreement when he visited the kingdom in April. Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters Thursday that ties with Israel were no longer an American prerequisite.

Huckabee did not comment on the report specifically.

The ambassador also argued that it was “wholly inaccurate” to describe the humanitarian aid initiative being launched in Gaza as Israeli, saying media reports characterizing it as such were “off the mark.”

Huckabee confirmed that the aid operation “is ongoing” but said Israel’s involvement will only be “on the perimeters” in securing the aid distribution zones.

“They’re not bringing the food or distributing it,” he said, adding that the Israelis “are supportive” of the plan. “They care very much about humanitarian aid to Gaza, but they also care that Hamas doesn’t steal the aid.”

Officials familiar with the plan have told The Times of Israel that the Israeli government and military have been heavily involved in putting together its details, even if a new international organization — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — will be the one managing the initiative and the Israel Defense Forces won’t be the one to distribute the aid.

Asked by The Times of Israel how a potential ceasefire with Hamas could affect the initiative if it requires an IDF withdrawal to buffer zones, Huckabee said that “any ceasefire still requires security,” and the focus in any case will be getting the food to the Gazan population. He also said that humanitarian aid wasn’t dependent on the existence of a ceasefire.

He stated that the key elements of the plan were to get food distributed efficiently and safely, and prevent the Hamas terror group from getting its hands on it and stealing it. He panned Hamas as “100% responsible for the horrific situation” in the enclave, accusing the group’s leaders of “starving their people” and preventing a solution. He urged unanimous international condemnation of its “torturing of hostages in tunnels.”

Huckabee said the aid initiative involves many groups, nonprofits and agencies, not all of whom can be named.

But he acknowledged that alongside the “good initial response,” many challenges remain and an “extraordinary amount of planning” is required.

He declined to give a timeline for when the aid will begin being distributed, beyond insisting that it will hopefully be very soon. However, the US ambassador acknowledged that the initiative “won’t be perfect — especially in its early days.”

“It is a logistical challenge to make this work,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hebrew media reported Friday that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had canceled a visit to Israel that had been planned for the coming days.

An Axios report earlier this week said Hegseth was intending to arrive in Israel on May 12, a day before Trump begins his trip to Saudi Arabia, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It would have been Hegseth’s first trip to Israel as defense secretary, and he was slated to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

But several outlets said the visit had been canceled, though no explanation was given.

On Thursday, Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 news that US actions against the Iran-backed Houthis depended on whether they harm American citizens. His comments followed Trump’s surprise announcement on Tuesday of a bilateral ceasefire agreement, after which the rebel group vowed to continue its attacks on Israel.

Israel was caught by surprise by the agreement, officials said, leading to further speculation as to the state of Israel-American ties. It was announced by Trump two days after a Houthi missile impacted the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport, lightly injuring several people and prompting most foreign airlines to halt flights to Israel.

“The United States isn’t required to get permission from Israel to make some type of arrangement that would get the Houthis [to refrain] from firing on our ships,” Huckabee said in a clip from the full interview, set to air on the network this weekend.

At the same time, he added, “There’s 700,000 Americans living in Israel. If the Houthis want to continue doing things to Israel and they hurt an American, then it becomes our business.”

Asked by Channel 12 to clarify whether he meant that the US would only intervene to fight the rebel group if a US citizen was hurt by a Houthi missile, the ambassador said, “It’s a matter of what becomes our immediate business.”

His remarks echoed those made by Trump, who, when asked about the Houthis pledging to continue attacking Israel notwithstanding their agreement with the US, responded, “I’ll discuss that if something happens.”

On Wednesday, the Houthis fired a drone at Israel, which was intercepted. They fired a ballistic missile on Friday, which was also destroyed en route.

The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “death to America, death to Israel, a curse on the Jews” — have been firing at Israel and on shipping routes in the Red Sea since November 2023, saying that they are doing so in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza amid the war there, which erupted when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

Houthi attacks on commercial shipping largely ceased six months ago, though this was after many international companies rerouted their vessels to avoid the Red Sea. Attacks on Israel and other military targets were halted for several weeks earlier this year, but restarted when a ceasefire in Gaza collapsed in early March.

The US intensified strikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis earlier this year to stop attacks on Red Sea shipping, after the Houthis said they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday prompted sweeping Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port and other Houthi infrastructure targets on Monday. The strikes were followed on Tuesday by further attacks that the Israeli military said had “completely disabled” Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-controlled capital.

Nava Freiberg and agencies contributed to this report.