Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced concern on Thursday over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, which has been under a strict Israeli blockade for over ten weeks, cutting off aid shipments to the area.
While addressing the press in Antalya, Rubio refrained from placing blame on Israel for the ongoing siege. He did disclose that he had spoken earlier in the day with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu but didn’t suggest he had pushed the Israeli leader on the aid situation. A summary released by the State Department following the call made no reference to any discussion of humanitarian issues.
Since March 1, no humanitarian supplies have reached Gaza. Israel has defended the blockade by pointing to the large amounts of aid that entered during a previous six-week ceasefire and accusing Hamas of diverting those resources. Still, military sources from within the Israel Defense Forces have recently cautioned that the population in Gaza is nearing starvation.
President Donald Trump addressed the crisis on April 25, telling the press he had urged Netanyahu to permit the delivery of food and medical supplies. Later, on May 5, Trump stated that people in Gaza were “starving” but blamed Hamas for making aid distribution “impossible.”
In a move aimed at bypassing Hamas control, Israeli officials helped create a new body — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — to oversee a fresh method of delivering aid. Under this plan, food will be distributed exclusively from a few designated locations in southern Gaza secured by American contractors. Only individuals who are pre-approved will be allowed to collect supplies every two weeks and then bring them to a separate area within a newly created humanitarian zone around the devastated city of Rafah.
Humanitarian groups working inside Gaza have harshly criticized the GHF model, saying it undermines key humanitarian standards, displaces residents who live far from the designated aid zone, and fails to properly address the real scope of need on the ground.
“I’ve heard criticisms of that plan. We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one,” Rubio remarked, showing only lukewarm support for GHF, which had just released its first public statement the day before.
“We are for all the aid we can get… without Hamas being able to steal it from people,” Rubio said, stressing his belief that the conflict would end if Hamas were to capitulate.
“We’re not immune or in any way insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza,” Rubio emphasized.
“There’s a plan out there that’s been offered — that’s been criticized by some — but it allows people to get aid without Hamas stealing it. And we’ll continue to work toward that in ways that we think are constructive and productive,” he said.
The Trump administration hasn’t just voiced support for the GHF proposal; officials have also engaged directly with representatives from the United Nations and other aid agencies, pushing them to join the effort. In at least one case, officials reportedly warned that financial support could be cut off from organizations that do not cooperate.
On Wednesday, the GHF announced plans to begin distributing aid inside Gaza by the end of May, stating that Israel had agreed to lift the aid blockade temporarily to allow for this operation.
However, by Thursday night, Israel had yet to officially confirm this. One Israeli official told The Times of Israel earlier in the week that an announcement should be expected soon.
In its first public statement released Wednesday, GHF said that Israel had granted permission to expand the number of “Safe Distribution Sites” (SDSs) across Gaza. This came after backlash over a prior memo indicating that only four locations would be established at first, which could serve just 60% of Gaza’s two million residents.
The statement did not disclose how many new SDSs Israel had approved. As of last week, only one such site was reportedly under construction by the IDF.
Meanwhile, an official from the United Arab Emirates informed Israeli authorities that Abu Dhabi would not provide funding for the current version of the GHF initiative. This refusal dealt a significant setback to the plan, as Israel had hoped Emirati involvement would help legitimize the project and bring in more international partners.
Absent a new ceasefire agreement that includes the release of more hostages, Israel is reportedly preparing to launch a full-scale military campaign as early as Friday. The goal would be to retake the entire Gaza Strip and confine the population to a limited humanitarian area in the south, comprising less than 25% of Gaza’s territory.
{Matzav.com Israel}