Nearly 50 Palestinians aid seekers killed throughout Gaza as Witkoff, Huckabee toured “staged” aid site – National & International News
Nearly 50 Palestinians killed while seeking aid as Witkoff, Huckabee toured “staged” aid site.
Trump fires Labor Department official after alarming jobs report, stocks tumble.
Nearly 50 Palestinians killed while seeking aid as Witkoff, Huckabee toured “staged” aid site
Under increasing pressure to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited an aid distribution site in southern Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a private effort backed by the US and Israel to control distribution of food in the Gaza Strip. Its ground operations are run mainly by US military contractors.
Witkoff and Huckabee’s visit painted a picture of an orderly and humane setup for aid distribution. It was a far cry from what aid workers, medical personnel, journalists, civilians, GHF whistleblowers and even Israeli soldiers have described of GHF’s operation since they began in late May. Journalists and aid workers in Gaza allege that Witkoff and Huckabee’s visit was carefully stage managed to present as positive a scene as possible. The usually ever-present Israeli tanks and snipers were removed. A Palestinian journalist reports that today, distribution at this site was limited to families loyal to an Israeli-backed militia.
The carefully choreographed visit has drawn comparison to a deception mounted in 1944 by the Nazis to cover up the horrors of the Holocaust. In that instance, the Nazis created a fake model Jewish village inside of the Theresienstadt concentration camp to deceive visiting observers from the International Red Cross.
Since May 27 when GHF began operations, at least 1373 Palestinians in Gaza have been while seeking aid, the vast majority of them at GHF sites. Most were killed by the Israeli military, but the US contractors working for GHF as well as the Israeli backed militias have also shot and killed aid seekers. While Witkoff and Huckabee were visiting the site in Rafah today, at least 49 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured at other aid distribution sites in Gaza.
Caroline Willemen, Gaza project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, has accused Israel of “engineering massacres” as increasingly desperate Palestinians face a grim choice: risk their lives for scraps from GHF, or watch their families starve.
Related:
US Army veteran and former GHF contractor recounts story of 5-year-old boy who walked 12 kilometers for food, thanked the contractor and kissed his hand before being killed by Israeli snipers.
Trump fires Labor Department official after alarming jobs report, stocks tumble
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today after conducting revisions that the US added 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June than were first reported. Initially, it was reported that over 291,000 jobs were added in those two months, but the BLS has now revised that number down to about 33,000 (19,000 jobs in May and 14,000 in June). The BLS reported today that a disappointing 73,000 jobs were added in July, but that number could very well be revised downward in future evaluations. This has been the weakest for three months for job growth since the onset of the pandemic.
The BLS report as well as the announcement of new tariffs on dozens of countries have hit the stock market hard. The weakening with jobs mortgage market has increased fears that the US may be entering a recession. Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute says, “To me, today’s jobs report is what entering a recession looks like”.
In a case of firing the messenger, President Trump fired BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer. On Truth Social, Trump posted that McEnarfer “will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes”. In a later post, Trump alleged, without evidence, that “today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.
Related: AI leading to thousands of job losses.
Other news of note today:
Baby born from embryo frozen nearly 31 years ago.
