Gaza experiencing ‘actual hunger’, Donald Trump says

There is “real starvation” in Gaza, Donald Trump has mentioned, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there was no such factor.

Asked if he agreed with Netanyahu that it was a “bold-faced lie” to say Israel was fuelling starvation in Gaza, the US president replied: “I don’t know… those children look very hungry… that’s real starvation stuff.”

Speaking throughout a gathering with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump mentioned: “Nobody’s done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess… I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.”

His feedback got here after the UN’s humanitarian chief mentioned “vast amounts” of meals had been wanted to stave off hunger.

Tom Fletcher advised the BBC he welcomed Israel’s measures over the weekend to permit extra help into Gaza within the type of airdrops, and navy pauses to permit meals convoys to achieve folks.

But he mentioned what had been delivered up to now was simply “a drop in the ocean” of what was required.

“It’s the beginning, but the next few days are really make or break. We need to deliver at a much, much greater scale. We need vast amounts of aid going in, much faster,” he advised BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Israel mentioned 120 lorry hundreds had been collected from crossings on Sunday throughout the first day by day 10-hour “tactical pause” in navy operations, and that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 28 packages of meals.

Hours after Mr Fletcher spoke, the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry mentioned one other 14 folks had died because of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours.

That introduced the full variety of malnutrition-related deaths for the reason that struggle start in October 2023 to 147, together with 88 youngsters, in accordance with the ministry.

Israel, which controls the entry of all provides to Gaza, has denied there’s hunger in Gaza and rejected accusations of being liable for meals shortages.

On Sunday, the Israeli navy started actions that it mentioned would enhance the “humanitarian response” in Gaza and disprove “the false claim of deliberate starvation”.

Israel introduced there could be a “local tactical pause” in three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, as nicely the institution of “designated secure routes” for help convoys.

The navy additionally allowed help drops carried out by international nations to renew, regardless of humanitarian businesses warning that the tactic was ineffective and harmful.

Israeli navy physique Cogat, which co-ordinates the entry of help into Gaza, mentioned greater than 120 lorry a great deal of help had been collected from crossings by the UN and different worldwide organisations on Sunday, and that a whole bunch extra lorry hundreds had been awaiting assortment.

Mr Fletcher mentioned the UN had collected fewer than 100 lorry hundreds in that point, and famous that 600 to 700 hundreds had entered Gaza day by day on common throughout the two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at first of this 12 months.

Asked to answer Israel’s criticism of UN businesses for not amassing help from crossings, he mentioned: “We’re not going to leave on pallets if we can. But to get to it our drivers face bureaucratic constraints, they face massive security constraints.”

He additionally mentioned that many of the UN’s meals lorries had been looted after getting into Gaza on Sunday.

“Most of those lorries… were hit by desperate individual civilians, starving. The flour was taken off those lorries and its very, very dangerous for our drivers.”

Mr Fletcher additionally warned that UN groups on the bottom believed the Israeli navy’s pauses would solely final every week or so, which he mentioned could be “clearly insufficient when before our eyes we’re seeing this 21st Century atrocity on the ground”.

“We need a sustained period of delivery – weeks, months – to build up, to stop that starvation and build up the supplies again. Ultimately, we need a ceasefire. Pauses are a good step in the right direction, but stopping the conflict is the key.”

Netanyahu on Sunday savaged claims that Israel was intentionally ravenous civilians in Gaza, which might quantity to a struggle crime.

“What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” he mentioned.

“We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the supply of humanitarian aid is one force, Hamas. Again, the reversal of truth,” he added.

Netanyahu mentioned the Israeli navy’s humanitarian pauses and corridors meant the UN had “no excuses left” to not accumulate and distribute all the help from the crossings.

“Stop lying. Stop finding excuses. Do what you have to do.”

On Monday evening, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned Israel would work with help teams, the US and European nations to make sure “large amounts of humanitarian aid flows” into Gaza.

A press release mentioned the “situation in Gaza is difficult” however that Hamas “benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis”, by releasing “unverified numbers” and “circulating images that are carefully stage or manipulated”.

The Israeli authorities doesn’t enable worldwide information organisations, together with the BBC, into Gaza to report freely on the scenario there.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was “on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July”.

Of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza in 2025, 63 had occurred this month, together with 24 youngsters underneath 5 and one little one over 5, the UN company mentioned.

“Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting,” it added.

The WHO mentioned the disaster was “entirely preventable” and condemned what it known as the “deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid”.

Hamas has denied stealing help, and on Sunday the New York Times cited senior Israeli navy officers as saying that the navy had by no means discovered proof that the armed group had systematically stolen help from the UN. Reuters information company additionally reported final week that US authorities evaluation discovered no proof of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded help.

On Monday, native hospital sources mentioned Israeli assaults throughout Gaza had killed greater than 30 folks, together with help seekers.

The Israeli navy launched a marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 folks had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

At least 59,821 folks have been killed in Gaza since then, in accordance with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.