US Amb. Huckabee presents Gaza humanitarian aid plan, will launch independently of IDF offensive

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced the upcoming launch of an American plan to introduce and distribute humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that Israel was not directly involved but supports the plan.

During his remarks to reporters on Friday morning, Huckabee said, “President Trump has made very clear that one of the most urgent things that needs to happen is humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

“So today, we are announcing that that process is ongoing, it is launched,” he said.

The ambassador emphasized that the plan would ensure aid would not reach Hamas, but also said it would launch independently of any military action and without making demands of Hamas.

The announcement follows the publication of an Israeli plan for the distribution of aid, which was said to be part of the planned “Gideon’s Chariots” offensive and, therefore, expected to launch in several weeks.

However, Huckabee clarified that the plan was not an Israeli initiative, but an American-led effort carried out in cooperation “not only of governments, but of NGOs, charitable organizations, nonprofits from around the world.”

He added that the launch will not be tied to any military considerations and is set to begin at an undisclosed date in the near future.

The announcement was made on the heels of a surprise announcement about a ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis – one that doesn’t include Israel and reportedly blindsided the Israeli leadership.

Combined with reports that the U.S. will not condition advancing nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia on normalization with Israel – alongside other emerging issues – this has fueled speculation of a significant cooling in relations between the Trump administration and Israel.

Huckabee stressed: “The Israelis are supportive, any allegation that the Israelis don't care about humanitarian aid is absolutely false. They care very much about humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, but they also care very much that Hamas doesn't steal that aid.”

His comments suggest that previous reports regarding the Israeli plans only touched upon the IDF’s side of the operation, which will mainly be to provide a protective perimeter for several distribution zones, while the U.S. will handle the distribution itself.

“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food or even in the bringing of the food into Gaza,” Huckabee explained.

Within Israel, the IDF’s top brass has long rejected any role for the troops in the distribution of aid to Gaza, while hawkish and far-right coalition members have opposed the reintroduction of humanitarian aid unless Hamas releases the remaining 59 hostages.

Responding to reporters' questions, Huckabee confirmed that internal security within the distribution zones will be managed by private American security firms.

He also said the IDF would not be directly involved in the distribution of aid, stressing that this was important “because there are some entities that would not want to participate if they thought that this was an IDF operation.”

Responding to criticism that the limited number of distribution zones—initially all located in southern Gaza—could endanger civilians by requiring long travel distances, Huckabee said logistical assessments show this concern is unfounded.

“As far as the U.N. saying that they were concerned about the danger – the greatest danger, the most important danger, is people starving to death. There's the danger.”

“Let's be real clear… the danger is not doing anything. We call upon the U.N., we call upon every NGO, we call upon every government, especially those who have been saying, 'Why don't you do something?' Well, something is being done. So we invite people who have been concerned about it to join in this process.”

Asked about his assessment of the level of starvation and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Huckabee responded, “If there wasn't a humanitarian crisis, there wouldn't be an effort to try to deal with it… That's why we need a humanitarian aid program going in.”

The ambassador also directly addressed speculations of cooling relations between the governments, after being asked whether the U.S. was now “working around” Israel.

“Absolutely not. I think any characterization of that would be completely, absolutely untrue,” Huckabee said.

“The relationship is, I think the word is often used here, ‘ironclad’, that’s the operative word… There is not an issue, and I want to make that incredibly clear. There is no sense of conflict or issue of separation between the long-standing alliance between the United States and Israel, and the President has made that clear. I'm here to work for him and to carry his message, and that's been his message without any equivocation.”