Gaza experiencing ‘real starvation’, Donald Trump says

There’s “actual hunger” in Gaza, Donald Trump has mentioned, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there was no such factor.

Requested 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 do not know… these youngsters look very hungry… that is actual hunger stuff.”

Talking throughout a gathering with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump mentioned: “No person’s finished something nice over there. The entire place is a multitude… I advised Israel perhaps they need to do it a distinct means.”

His feedback got here after the UN’s humanitarian chief mentioned “huge quantities” 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 support into Gaza within the type of airdrops, and navy pauses to permit meals convoys to achieve individuals.

However he mentioned what had been delivered to this point was simply “a drop within the ocean” of what was required.

“It is the start, however the subsequent few days are actually make or break. We have to ship at a a lot, a lot higher scale. We’d like huge quantities of support getting in, a lot quicker,” he advised BBC Radio 4’s At present programme.

Israel mentioned 120 lorry hundreds had been collected from crossings on Sunday in the course of the first every 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 individuals had died because of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours.

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

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

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

Israel introduced there could be a “native tactical pause” in three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, as properly the institution of “designated safe routes” for support convoys.

The navy additionally allowed support 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 support into Gaza, mentioned greater than 120 lorry a great deal of support had been collected from crossings by the UN and different worldwide organisations on Sunday, and that tons of 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 every day on common in the course of the two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas firstly of this yr.

Requested to answer Israel’s criticism of UN businesses for not accumulating support from crossings, he mentioned: “We’re not going to go away on pallets if we will. However to get to it our drivers face bureaucratic constraints, they face large safety constraints.”

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

“Most of these lorries… had been hit by determined particular person civilians, ravenous. The flour was taken off these lorries and its very, very harmful for our drivers.”

Mr Fletcher additionally warned that UN groups on the bottom believed the Israeli navy’s pauses would solely final per week or so, which he mentioned could be “clearly inadequate when earlier than our eyes we’re seeing this twenty first Century atrocity on the bottom”.

“We’d like a sustained interval of supply – weeks, months – to construct up, to cease that hunger and construct up the provides once more. Finally, we want a ceasefire. Pauses are step in the proper course, however stopping the battle is the important thing.”

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

“What a bold-faced lie. There isn’t any coverage of hunger in Gaza, and there’s no hunger in Gaza.” he mentioned.

“We allow humanitarian support all through the length of the warfare to enter Gaza. In any other case, there could be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the provision of humanitarian support is one drive, Hamas. Once more, the reversal of fact,” 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.

“Cease mendacity. Cease discovering excuses. Do what it’s important to do.”

On Monday night time, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned Israel would work with support teams, the US and European nations to make sure “massive quantities of humanitarian support flows” into Gaza.

An announcement mentioned the “state of affairs in Gaza is tough” however that Hamas “advantages from trying to gasoline the notion of a humanitarian disaster”, by releasing “unverified numbers” and “circulating photos which can be fastidiously stage or manipulated”.

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

On Sunday, the World Well being Group warned that malnutrition was “on a harmful trajectory within 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 baby over 5, the UN company mentioned.

“Most of those individuals had been declared useless on arrival at well being amenities or died shortly after, their our bodies exhibiting clear indicators of extreme losing,” it added.

The WHO mentioned the disaster was “fully preventable” and condemned what it known as the “deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale meals, well being, and humanitarian support”.

Hamas has denied stealing support, and on Sunday the New York Instances cited senior Israeli navy officers as saying that the navy had by no means discovered proof that the armed group had systematically stolen support 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 support.

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

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

Not less than 59,821 individuals have been killed in Gaza since then, in line with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.