Gaza experiencing ‘actual hunger’, Donald Trump says

There’s “actual hunger” in Gaza, Donald Trump has stated, 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 kids look very hungry… that is actual hunger stuff.”

Talking throughout a gathering with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump stated: “No one’s carried out something nice over there. The entire place is a multitude… I informed Israel perhaps they need to do it a special manner.”

His feedback got here after the UN’s humanitarian chief stated “huge quantities” of meals have been wanted to stave off hunger.

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

However he stated what had been delivered up to now 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 want huge quantities of assist getting into, a lot sooner,” he informed BBC Radio 4’s Immediately programme.

Israel stated 120 lorry masses have been collected from crossings on Sunday through the first day by day 10-hour “tactical pause” in army 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 stated one other 14 folks had died on account of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours.

That introduced the full variety of malnutrition-related deaths because the warfare start in October 2023 to 147, together with 88 kids, in response to 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 army started actions that it stated would enhance the “humanitarian response” in Gaza and disprove “the false declare of deliberate hunger”.

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

The army additionally allowed assist drops carried out by international nations to renew, regardless of humanitarian companies warning that the strategy was ineffective and harmful.

Israeli army physique Cogat, which co-ordinates the entry of assist into Gaza, stated greater than 120 lorry a great deal of assist have been collected from crossings by the UN and different worldwide organisations on Sunday, and that a whole bunch extra lorry masses have been awaiting assortment.

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

Requested to reply to Israel’s criticism of UN companies for not gathering assist from crossings, he stated: “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 stated that a lot of the UN’s meals lorries have been looted after coming into Gaza on Sunday.

“Most of these lorries… have 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 army’s pauses would solely final per week or so, which he stated can be “clearly inadequate when earlier than our eyes we’re seeing this twenty first Century atrocity on the bottom”.

“We want a sustained interval of supply – weeks, months – to construct up, to cease that hunger and construct up the provides once more. In the end, we want a ceasefire. Pauses are step in the suitable route, 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 is no such thing as a coverage of hunger in Gaza, and there’s no hunger in Gaza.” he stated.

“We allow humanitarian assist all through the period of the warfare to enter Gaza. In any other case, there can be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the provision of humanitarian assist is one power, Hamas. Once more, the reversal of fact,” he added.

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

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

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

A press release stated the “scenario in Gaza is troublesome” however that Hamas “advantages from making an attempt to gasoline the notion of a humanitarian disaster”, by releasing “unverified numbers” and “circulating photos which might 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 scenario 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 kids beneath 5 and one baby over 5, the UN company stated.

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

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

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

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

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

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