US President Donald J. Trump’s approach to alleviating starvation in Gaza appears to be at cross purposes with Palestinian, Arab and European efforts to end the 22-month-old war that has devastated the Strip. While Mr. Trump has in recent days emphasized the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Gulf states and Europe have focused on ceasefire arrangements that could lead to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump envoy signals possible hostage breakthrough

Mr. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in a move that could bridge the gap between the two approaches, on Saturday, August 2, told the families of Hamas-held Israeli hostages that the US would seek a deal that would bring the 50 remaining captives home in one go rather than phased releases.

The Trump administration “now believes that everybody should come home at once, no piecemeal deals. That doesn’t work, and we’ve tried everything,” Mr. Witkoff said. He added that Hamas was ready to disarm.

If indeed true, the new US approach would be more in line with Hamas’s negotiating position than that of Israel, even if the Trump administration has recently taken steps to pressure Hamas and the internationally recognized West Bank-based Palestine Authority rather than Israel to make concessions that would enable the release of all hostages in one swap for Palestinians incarcerated in Israel.

Although riddled by internal division, Hamas has long offered to release all remaining hostages in one go in exchange for a permanent end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas has also repeatedly said that it would not be part of any post-war administration of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has refused to end the war until Israel has destroyed Hamas militarily and politically. In addition to disarming, Mr. Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas’s Gaza-based leaders agree to go into exile. As a result, Mr. Netanyahu has, until now, only agreed to temporary ceasefires, involving the release of some hostages in batches.

Similarly, Hamas did not reject out of hand Mr. Witkoff’s assertion that the group was willing to disarm. Instead, Hamas said it would only disarm with the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. 

The juxtaposition of the Trump administration, Israel and the Palestinians’ positions means that it would take significant US pressure on Israel to achieve an agreement that would free all hostages and end the war.

Arab and European states push for broader peace plan

So far, there is no indication that Mr. Trump is willing to exert the kind of pressure that would persuade Mr. Netanyahu to move the needle, even if the president is risking a generational revolt in his support base against his administration’s pro-Israel policies.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Europe have sought to persuade Mr. Trump to pressure Israel by creating building blocks for an end to the Gaza war that would link to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In a joint statement, the Gulf states and Europe called on Hamas to disarm and relinquish power in Gaza. They expressed support for a multinational peacekeeping force in the Strip and the creation of a Palestinian state in the Palestinian territories conquered by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War.

In parallel, France, Britain and Canada, proponents of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, announced that they would next month recognize Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly. The UK and Canada conditioned their recognition on moves that would bring an end to the war.

British Prime Minister Keith Starner said the UK would go ahead with recognition unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire, halts the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and commits to a two-state solution. He also called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the exiling of Hamas leaders as “key steps towards a negotiated two-state solution.”

For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney insisted that recognition depended on the corrupt and dysfunctional Palestine Authority committing to reform and elections in 2026 that would exclude Hamas. Palestine last held elections, which Hamas won in 2006. Mr. Carney’s demand for elections comes when Hamas’s popularity in Gaza has hit rock bottom, even though the group still enjoys a degree of support in the West Bank.

In response, Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has reportedly called for elections for the Palestine National Council, the Palestinian parliament, on terms that would preclude Hamas’s participation. Mr. Trump has done little to encourage Mr. Abbas.

Washington hardens stance against the Palestinian Authority

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in late July after declaring that the US was no longer pursuing the goal of an independent Palestinian state, a long-standing pillar of Republican and Democratic administrations’ Middle East policy.

The US said days after the meeting that it would no longer issue visas to the Palestine Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) officials. “It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace,” the State Department said in a statement.

Earlier, the US Justice Department opened the door for lawsuits by US victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks and their relatives against the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN organization responsible for Palestinian refugees. The victims and relatives claim in two lawsuits that UNWRA supported Hamas and Hezbollah in violation of US antiterrorism laws.

Israel and the US have long been on the warpath against UNRWA for allegedly perpetuating the Palestinian problem and keeping Palestinian national aspirations alive by granting the descendants of refugees refugee status. UNRWA is the only UN agency to recognise refugees’ descendants as refugees.

Trump-backed aid foundation faces mounting criticism

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s vehicle for alleviating starvation in Gaza, the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), is mired in ever more controversy. With only four sites, the Foundation can’t replace the long-established and proven aid distribution system, involving 400 distribution points, operated by the United Nations and international aid organizations. Hundreds of desperate Palestinian food seekers have been killed at the Foundation’s sites that employ private US security operatives and are surrounded by the Israeli military.

The Foundation’s problems have been compounded by suggestions that its recently appointed executive chairman, Christian Zionist Reverend Johnnie Moore, may have been involved in a global pro-Israel public relations campaign that promoted anti-Muslim sentiments.

Researchers Marc Owen Jones and Sohan Dsouza first disclosed the $1.2 million on and offline campaign in 2024. META, which owns Facebook and Instagram, subsequently confirmed the campaign’s existence and said it had removed numerous accounts and pages on its social media platforms. An Agence France-Presse (AFP) investigation revealed the first indications that Mr. Moore and his public relations firm, JDA Worldwide, may have been involved in the campaign.

Last week, Mr. Jones linked Mr. Moore and JDA Worldwide to a protest by two US pageant contestants, Justice Enlow (Miss Tennessee 2020) and Hannah Roberts (Miss Mississippi 2015), denouncing Qatari human rights abuses and the Gulf state’s alleged inaction in freeing Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Qatar, alongside the US and Egypt, is a mediator in the stalled Gaza ceasefire talks.

Mr Moore is a member of the advisory board of All Arab News, which first reported on the protest. Interestingly, Mohammed al-Issa, the secretary-general of the Saudi Arabia-based Muslim World League, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s primary vehicle to promote the Saudi leader’s autocratic notion of moderate Islam, chairs the board.

Prominent figures associated with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also board members. They include Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of Abu Dhabi-based Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, and Ghanem Nuseibeh, co-founder of London-based Cornerstone Global Associates, a strategy and management consultancy with close links to the UAE. Saudi Arabia, together with the UAE, spearheaded a 3.5-year-long economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar that ended in 2021.

Joel C. Rosenberg, an Israel-based Christian Zionist, edits All Arab News and its sister publication, All Israel News. The Moore controversy comes on the heels of assertions by a former US private security guard at Foundation food distribution sites that Israeli troops and private American personnel were responsible for the hundreds of killings.

The Foundation has sought to discredit Lieutenant Colonel Tony Aguero’s allegations by accusing him of falsification and asserting that his claims were retribution for his firing for performance reasons. The accusations sought to undermine Mr. Aguero’s credibility but did not provide evidence to counter his allegations.

Envoy disputes claims of starvation in Gaza

Mr. Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy, echoed Messrs. Moore and Netanyahu’s denials of starvation after he paid a five-hour visit to one of the Foundation’s sites, during which he met Foundation officials and Israeli commanders, but had no known contact with Palestinians.

Israel’s Channel 11 broadcast a recording of Mr. Witkoff’s denial during a meeting with relatives of the Hamas-held hostages, abducted during the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

“Hamas has done a good job of getting people to believe some of the nonsense they spew — for instance, that some of the children are starving … When, in fact, they suffer from other medical conditions. They do a good job of that. But that has to be dispelled. That has to be repudiated. That has to be done loudly,” Mr. Witkoff was recorded as saying.

Mr. Witkoff’s comments were in stark contrast to assessments by the Israeli military and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a target of Mr. Trump’s budget slashing. Both concluded that there was no evidence of Hamas being the main culprit in the looting of food convoys. Mr. Witkoff’s comments also contradicted Mr. Trump’s earlier acknowledgment that there was “real starvation” in Gaza. The president has blamed Hamas rather than Israel for the crisis.

That didn’t stop Mr. Trump from implicitly jabbing Mr. Netanyahu by saying, “I think everybody, unless they’re pretty cold-hearted — or worse than that, nuts — there’s nothing you can say other than it’s terrible when you see the kids.”

Mr. Trump went on to say, “We can save a lot of people, I mean, some of those kids. That’s real starvation; I see it, and you can’t fake that. So, we’re going to be even more involved.” Mr. Trump has yet to respond to Mr. Witkoff’s denial publicly.

[The Turbulent World first published this piece]

[Kaitlyn Diana edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.