Trump’s Messenger Viton visits a controversial site to distribute assistance in Gaza

US President Donald Trump in the Middle East, Steve Vikoff, visited a controversial site to distribute help in Israel and the United States in Gaza for the first time.

Vitcof said that the purpose of the trip to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) website is to give Trump a “clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and to help develop a plan for the provision of food and medical assistance to Gaza people”.

The visit follows close to daily reports of deadly firing at GHF Points, with the UN reporting at least 859 Palestinians killed near the sites – a figure that GHF rejects.

Israel says his troops only fired warning shots and that they deliberately do not shoot civilians.

International journalists, including the BBC, are blocked by Israel to enter the gas independently, making it difficult to check the claims.

The BBC understands that Vikof has visited one of the GHF sites near Rafa in South Gaza on Friday.

He was accompanied by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Hakabi and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Posting on X afterwards, along with pictures of their visit, Vitcof said: “Today we spent over five hours in Gaza – level, putting the facts on the spot, evaluating the terms and meeting with @ghfupdates and other agencies.”

Hukabi said they had received “IDF briefings and spoke to people on the ground.”

He claims that GHF sites supply “more than one million meals a day,” calling it “incredible feat.”

GHF said he had delivered 1.3 million food in three distribution sites on Thursday. He has not yet released numbers for Friday. The UN says the number of GHF meals does not reach the common nutritional requirements.

UN agencies have repeatedly warned that mass fasting is being held on the territory.

Some Gazani, who spoke to the BBC, condemned Vitcof’s visit as a “media cascade”.

Louis Mahmoud, who lives in Gaza, said, “Steve Vikof will not see the hunger, but only the story Israel wants to see.

“This visit is a hollow media cascade, not a humanitarian mission. It comes without decisions, only conversational points designed to polish the image of an administrative accomplice in our suffering.”

Amer Harat, the father of two living in Gaza, said: “From what Gaza needs, he is not another envoy with a press team. We need a siege raised, the bombing stopped and the blind American support for this war is over.”

The Director of Peace and Security of the Oxfam, Scot Paul, said that Vitcof and Huckabi during their visit would be “faced with scenes of countless Palestinian children and their families on the brink of hunger, displaced in the flattened communities beyond their windows.”

He added: “This must be what finally stimulates the United States to use its full influence to put an end to this catastrophe before we pass the return point.”

A retired US Special Forces officer who worked at GHF centers told the BBC last week that it was witnessing IDF troops and American contractors shooting in crowds of Palestinians near the sites in which he worked.

Colonel Anthony Aguilar, a veteran of the Special Forces of the Green Berets of the US Army, said he had never witnessed such a level of “brutality and use of indiscriminate and unnecessary power against civilian population” throughout their careers.

GHF called Aguilar’s claims “categorically incorrect”, describing it as “dissatisfied former performer who was terminated for unlawful behavior,” which he denies.

On Friday, the campaign of the Human Disc Watch (HRW) campaign blamed Israeli forces and US -supported contractors for establishing a “insufficient, militarized distribution system that has made the distribution of aid into regular bloodshed.”

HRW called on Israeli authorities “immediately stop using deadly force as a crowd control against Palestinian civilians,” and called on the US and Israel to suspend the operation.

GHF help sites replaced the UN distribution mechanism in May, igniting international outrage. Israel has accused Hamas of robbery of the UN assistance, Hamas’s accusation denies.

There are four GHF sites located in the Israeli military zones and are managed by private US security contractors.

Eyewitnesses and medics have repeatedly described the Israeli forces opening fire on crowds near the help points.

IDF said 126 assistance packages were included in Gaza on Friday by seven different countries – Belgium, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, France, Spain and for the first time Germany.

Help agencies say that much more needed to be resolved by land and warned that Airdropops could not deliver the required aid quality.

The UN Human Rights Service (OHR) said on Thursday that at least 1373 Palestinians had been killed while trying to get food in Gaza. Of these, 859 were killed near GHF sites, the message said.

Ochr said most were killed by the Israeli military and while they were aware of other armed groups in the same area, he added that they “have no information showing their involvement in these killings.”

The service said “there is no information that these Palestinians have been directly involved in hostilities or pose some threat to the Israeli security forces.”

Israel has accused Hamas of inciting chaos near help places. GHF rejected UN numbers when I turned to comment from BBC.

Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed in southern and central gas by dawn on Friday, according to the Hamas Civil Protection Agency.

The figure includes eight people who were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes aimed at tents, sheltering displaced people – in Khan Eunice to the South and Deir Al -Balan in the center of the strip, the agency said.

The other two were killed and at least 20 more wounded when the Israeli forces opened fire near a point of distribution of the Morag corridor, north of Rafa, the civil protection added.

The locals said hundreds of people gathered to get food when the shooting began.

The BBC addressed the Israeli military for comment.

Hamas Health Ministry said 82 people had been killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours on Friday, 52 of which were reported to seek help.

Vitcof met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday about what was described by a US spokesman as “productive” conversations.

There have been discussions about the great reformulation of the negotiations on the termination of the fire, according to Israeli reports in the media, which include a “ALL-IN” deal that will see all hostages held by Hamas published in one exchange, along with the complete disarmament of Hamas. Before that, the hostages had to be put into phases.

Hamas said he would not return to the table until more assistance was allowed in the gas to deal with hunger.

The US and Israel withdrew from negotiations to end fire last week, accusing Hamas of lack of coordination and not negotiating in good faith.

Hamas has accused the Israeli side of irreconcilability of key adhesive points in the negotiations.