'We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed,' says US president
US President Donald Trump said he is working on a plan to deliver food and medical aid to Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel's ongoing restrictions on the delivery of direly needed humanitarian assistance, according to a report on Friday.
In a brief phone call with the Axios news site, Trump said: “We want to help people. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened a long time ago.”
His comments came as White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited aid centers in Gaza run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Trump said he had not yet been briefed on the visit but praised Witkoff for “doing great work.”
Trump previously acknowledged that there is "real starvation" in Gaza and on Thursday said, "It's terrible what's occurring there. Yeah, it's a terrible thing. People are very hungry."
The visit amid mounting criticism of US-Israeli coordination in Gaza, particularly regarding the group’s distribution model, which Palestinians say serves as a tool for displacement under the guise of humanitarian relief, as well as a “death trap” for many Palestinian aid seekers, with over 1,300 killed since May while waiting for relief supplies.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 154 Palestinians, including 89 children, have died of hunger-related causes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.
