By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 29 Jul 2025 • 22:43
• 2 minutes read
Palestinians in Gaza are genuinely dying of hunger. “You can fake that,” Trump admitted | Credit: Anas-Mohammed/Shutterstoc,
Donald Trump told his UK counterpart, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that he would not stand in the way of the British recognition of a Palestinian state, expressing his own concern at images and reports of children starving in Gaza.
In fact, according to a CNN report, Trump said he was “not particularly convinced” by Israeli denials of starvation in Gaza. He told CNN he has seen the pictures on TV and the children “look hungry.”
“That’s real starvation stuff… and you can’t fake that,” he added. “We want to get the children fed.” The Trump administration has confirmed it has allotted $30 million for aid to ensure it reaches those who really need it, the Washington Post reported.
The president, seen as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, signalled the United States would not object to the recognition of a Palestinian state, greenlighting Sir Keir as pressure mounts on him politically to follow Emmanuel Macron, who last week announced France would do so.
The situation has worsened in Gaza to the extent that even Israeli activists have condemned what their country is doing against Palestinians.
Israelis are calling it genocide
Two prominent Israeli rights groups on Monday said their country is committing genocide in Gaza, the first time that local Jewish-led organisations have made such accusations against Israel during nearly 22 months of war that has left at least 60,000 Palestinians dead and over 140,000 injured, primarily children and women, the Associated Press reported.
The claims by B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel add to an explosive debate over whether Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has amounted to genocide. The two groups have released a joint report entitled “Our Genocide.”
“An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip intentionally,” the report reads, Al Jazeera said.
Israeli activist groups are cautious when using the word genocide, as the term strikes a chord in a country where Israelis grow up learning about the Holocaust and hearing survivors’ harrowing stories, while committing to it never happening again.
The 11 other countries UK is joining
The UK would join ten other EU countries in recognising a Palestinian state. French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would recognise it on July 24th.
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, and Romania recognised Palestine in 1988, well before they became EU member states, Euro News recalled.
The former country of Czechoslovakia also recognised Palestinian statehood in 1988, although after it split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992, the former decided not to recognise the Palestinian state. Slovakia did in 1993.
In October 2014, Sweden became the first country to recognise Palestine while being an EU member state. On May 28th, 2024, Spain and Ireland recognised Palestine as a state, saying they aimed to help Israelis and Palestinians reach peace. On 4 June 2024, Slovenia also recognised the state of Palestine.
In Israel, about 16 per cent of Jewish Israelis believe in peaceful coexistence with Palestinians, a June Pew Research Centre poll revealed. In contrast, 64 per cent of Jewish Israelis believe Israel should temporarily occupy the Gaza Strip, according to a survey by the Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case that Israel was committing genocide against Gaza to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Several other countries, including Brazil, Spain, Turkiye and the Republic of Ireland, have joined South Africa in its ICJ case.
