US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Gaza is experiencing “real starvation” as he urged Israel to get people food, seemingly recalibrating his stance on the humanitarian situation in the Strip as images of emaciated children have sparked renewed worries about hunger in the enclave.
Speaking in Scotland, Trump said the US and other nations are giving money and food to Gaza but that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “got to sort of like run it.”
“I want him to make sure they get the food,” Trump said. “I want to make sure they get the food.”
Trump’s comments seemed to result from the images in recent days of the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza and were more urgent than the resigned message he had about the 21-month Israel-Hamas war last week, when ceasefire talks derailed.
His remarks on Monday also marked a new divergence from Netanyahu after the two leaders had become closer following their nations’ join strikes in Iran.
The US president was asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s comments on Sunday in which the Israeli leader said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza.”
“I don’t know,” Trump replied Monday. “I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”
US to set up food centres in Gaza
In the face of mounting international criticism, the Israeli military over the weekend began airdrops of aid, along with limited pauses in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day to help with the distribution.
Trump on Friday had expressed some resignation about the situation in Gaza after the US and Israel pulled their negotiating teams out of talks in Qatar to try to reach a ceasefire.
Trump said last week that Hamas was likely “going to be hunted down” and said of Israel, “They’re going to have to fight and they’re going to have to clean it up.”
But Trump seemed more inclined to action on Monday after reports of starvation-related deaths and images of people, especially young children and infants, struggling to get food continued to emerge over the weekend, drew international outcry.
The US president, speaking as he visited with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said that the US was “going to set up food centres,” but he didn’t offer specifics.
The White House did not immediately have more information about the centres.
International outcry grows louder
While Trump urged Netanyahu to do more to deliver aid, the US leader faced similar pleas.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said in a televised address on Monday that Trump is “the one who is able to stop the war, deliver the aid and end this suffering.”
“Please, make every effort to stop this war and deliver the aid,” el-Sissi said, addressing Trump in his remarks, adding “I believe that it’s time to end this war.”
Trump said Hamas has stolen food and aid trying to reach people in Gaza, but when asked by a reporter about what responsibility Israel has for limiting aid to the area, he said, “Israel has a lot of responsibility.”
“We have to help on a humanitarian basis before we do anything. We have to get the kids fed,” Trump said.
Starmer was more adamant than Trump, calling it “a desperate situation” in Gaza.
“I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they are seeing on their screens,” he said.
Starmer, who faces pressure from his Labour Party to recognise a Palestinian state as France did last week, said the UK supports statehood for the Palestinians but it must be part of a plan for a two-state solution.
Trump said last week that France’s recognition of a Palestinian state “doesn’t carry any weight.”
“I’m not going to take a position,” Trump said on Monday of recognising a Palestinian state. He added of Starmer, “I don’t mind him taking a position.”
The comments came as the UN General Assembly on Monday brought together high-level officials to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israel and the US are boycotting the two-day meeting.
Additional sources • AP
