Donald Trump has stated that there is “real starvation” in Gaza, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims to the contrary. When asked if he agreed with Netanyahu that it was a “bold-faced lie” to claim Israel was causing famine in Gaza, the US president said, “I don’t know… those children look very hungry… that’s real starvation stuff.” During a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump stated, “Nobody has done anything fantastic over there. The whole city is a shambles… I advised Israel that maybe they needed to handle things differently.” His remarks came after the UN humanitarian chief stated that “vast amounts” of food were required to prevent hunger.
Tom Fletcher applauded Israel’s steps over the weekend to enable additional help into Gaza, such as airdrops and military pauses to allow food convoys to reach residents. But he claimed what has been supplied thus far was only “a drop in the ocean” of what was needed. “It’s only the beginning, but the following several days will determine the outcome. We need to deliver on a much larger scale. “We need huge amounts of aid coming in much faster,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Israel reported that 120 truck loads were gathered from crossings on Sunday during the first daily 10-hour “tactical pause” in military operations, and that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 28 food supplies.
Hours after Mr Fletcher spoke, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry announced that another 14 individuals had died as a result of malnutrition in the previous 24 hours. According to the ministry, 147 people have died as a result of starvation since the war began in October 2023, including 88 children. Israel, which controls all supplies into Gaza, has disputed that there is famine and claimed responsibility for food shortages.
On Sunday, the Israeli military initiated steps to improve the “humanitarian response” in Gaza and debunk “the false claim of deliberate starvation”. Israel announced a “local tactical pause” in three areas of Gaza for 10 hours each day, as well as the creation of “designated secure routes” for humanitarian convoys. The military also authorised foreign assistance drops to resume, despite warnings from humanitarian agencies that the approach was useless and risky. The Israeli military group Cogat, which coordinates the entry of aid into Gaza, said more than 120 vehicle loads of aid were collected from crossings by the UN and other international organisations on Sunday, with hundreds more awaiting collection.
Mr Fletcher stated that the UN had gathered fewer than 100 lorry loads during that time, and that 600 to 700 loads entered Gaza on average every day during the two-month calm between Israel and Hamas at the beginning of this year. When asked to reply to Israel’s criticism of UN agencies for failing to collect aid at border crossings, he answered, “We won’t leave on pallets if we can. But to get there, our drivers face bureaucratic and severe security restraints.” He also claimed that the majority of the UN’s food trucks were plundered upon entering Gaza on Sunday. “They were attacked by desperate villagers who were starving. The flour was removed from those lorries, which is quite risky for our drivers.”
Mr Fletcher also warned that UN teams on the ground believed the Israeli military’s pauses would only last a week or so, which he described as “clearly insufficient when before our eyes we’re seeing this 21st Century atrocity on the ground”. “We need a consistent period of delivery – weeks, months – to build up, to end the famine and replenish stocks. Finally, we need a cease-fire. Pauses are a step in the right direction, but the objective is to end the fight. On Sunday, Netanyahu slammed charges that Israel was purposefully starving residents in Gaza, which would be a war crime. “What a blatant falsehood. There is no hunger program in Gaza, and no starvation exists.”
“Throughout the battle, we allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any Gazans. One force, Hamas, has disrupted the provision of humanitarian aid. “Again, the reversal of truth,” he said. Netanyahu said the Israeli military’s humanitarian pauses and corridors meant the UN had “no excuses left” not to collect and distribute all aid from the crossings. “Quit lying. Stop looking for excuses. Do what you need to do. On Monday night, Netanyahu’s administration announced that Israel would collaborate with aid organisations, the United States, and European countries to ensure “large amounts of humanitarian aid flows” into Gaza.
According to the statement, the “situation in Gaza is difficult,” but Hamas “benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis” by distributing “unverified numbers” and “circulating carefully staged or manipulated images.” The Israeli government prohibits international news organisations, including the BBC, from reporting freely on the situation in Gaza. The World Health Organisation warned on Sunday that malnutrition was “on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July”. According to the UN organisation, 63 of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza in 2025 happened this month, including 24 children under the age of five and one kid older than five.
“Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting,” according to the report. The WHO stated that the situation was “entirely preventable” and denounced the “deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid”. Hamas has denied stealing funds; Reuters reported this week that a US government review found no evidence of Hamas’ systematic theft of US-funded aid. Local medical sources reported on Monday that Israeli attacks on Gaza had killed more than 30 people, including aid workers.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, at least 59,821 individuals have been murdered since then.
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