HRW slams 'death trap' in Gaza as US envoy inspects aid centers

Human Rights Watch on Aug. 1 accused Israeli forces operating outside U.S.-backed aid centers in war-torn Gaza of routinely killing Palestinian civilians seeking food, with Washington’s envoys visited the distribution points.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution center in Rafah on Aug. 1 morning.

The visit came a day after Witkoff’s arrival in Israel and his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid a deadlock in ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and mounting criticism on hunger in the war-torn strip.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Witkoff, who visited Gaza in January, would inspect "distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground.”

Israel and the United States have backed a private aid operation run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) at four sites inside Gaza, protected by U.S. military contractors and the Israeli army.

"U.S.-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.

"Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families," Wille said in a statement.

At least 859 Palestinians were killed while attempting to obtain aid at GHF sites between May 27 and July 3, most by the Israeli military, according to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

With Israel facing moutning international pressure both over hunger and deaths in the aid distrucitpn centers, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Following the meeting, Wadephul declared, "The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination.”

"Here, the Israeli government must act quickly, safely and effectively to provide humanitarian and medical aid to prevent mass starvation from becoming a reality," he said.

"I have the impression that this has been understood today."

Before the meeting, Wadephul warned Israel is becoming increasingly isolated diplomatically due to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and mounting international moves to recognise a Palestinian state.

"Israel is in danger of becoming increasingly isolated internationally. I see it as Germany's duty to do everything possible to prevent that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad released a video showing German-Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski.

In the six-minute video, Braslavski, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release.

Braslavski was a security guard at the Nova music festival, one of the sites targeted by Hamas and other Palestinian fighters in the October 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war.