Witkov visits Gaza. Hamas confirms its readiness to engage in new negotiations.

On Friday morning, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff visited a food aid distribution center affiliated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli media, including the official Broadcasting Authority and the private Channel 12, reported that Witkov's convoy reached the Morag axis north of Rafah, where it inspected a food distribution center.

This will be Witkov's second announced visit to Gaza, having visited the Strip in January during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that remained in effect until March 18, when Israel resumed its aggression.

After 22 months of war, the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip is threatened by "all-out famine," according to the United Nations, especially since it relies heavily on humanitarian aid delivered by truck or dropped from the air.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, announced Thursday evening its readiness to "immediately engage in new ceasefire negotiations if aid reaches those in need in the Gaza Strip." This came as US envoy Steve Witkoff visited the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.

Tel Aviv continues its policy of starvation in the Gaza Strip amid a war of extermination that has been ongoing for more than 665 days. This war has left more than 207,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and famine has claimed the lives of many, including dozens of children.

"Immediate engagement in negotiations"

Hamas said in a statement: "The movement affirms its readiness to immediately engage in negotiations again once aid reaches those who deserve it and ends the humanitarian crisis and famine in Gaza."

The movement stressed that "continuing negotiations while the Gaza Strip is starving renders them meaningless and futile, especially after the criminal Zionist occupation withdrew from the negotiations last week without justification, just as we were on the verge of reaching an agreement."

She called on the international community and "all relevant parties to take immediate action to stop this mass massacre being perpetrated by the enemy in Gaza, to deliver food supplies immediately to our people in all areas of the Strip without restrictions or conditions, and to ensure their protection."

An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed, during his meeting with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the possibility of moving from a "partial and gradual deal to a comprehensive deal on Gaza."

Days ago, Israel withdrew from indirect negotiations with Hamas due to Tel Aviv's intransigence regarding the withdrawal from Gaza, ending the war, Palestinian prisoners, and the aid distribution mechanism.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said that Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee "will travel to Gaza to review current aid distribution sites and develop a plan to deliver additional food to the Strip's residents, who are facing "full-scale famine," according to the United Nations.

The spokeswoman explained that they "will meet (there) with residents of Gaza to hear directly from them what they have to say about this terrible situation," she said.

She added, "The envoy and the ambassador will present to the president the outcome of their visit immediately, with the aim of approving a final plan for distributing aid and food in the region."

Witkov met with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, amid unprecedented international pressure from a growing number of countries that have pledged to recognize the state of Palestine.

US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that "the quickest way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages," as he put it.

Earlier this week, Trump expressed concern about a "real famine" in Gaza, a stance that contrasts sharply with that of his ally, Netanyahu. Prior to the US envoy's arrival, dozens of relatives of Israeli prisoners still held by Hamas demonstrated outside the Israeli Prime Minister's office. The demonstrators reiterated their demand that the Israeli government reach a "comprehensive agreement" guaranteeing the release of 49 prisoners still in Gaza, including 27 who the Israeli military has declared dead.