Trump tells UK PM Starmer he is ‘not particularly convinced’ by Netanyahu’s denial of Gaza famine

Netanyahu: “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Speaking to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was “not particularly convinced” by the Israeli prime minister’s denial that there is starvation in Gaza.

“Based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry,” Trump said while accompanying Starmer and his wife, Victoria, at a golf resort in Scotland.

Speaking to Christian leaders at a Daystar conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, Netanyahu said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” Israel, he continued, had “enabled humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans.”

“You have a lot of starving people in Gaza,” said Trump, while praising U.S. efforts, including the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, for trying to alleviate the problem.

“We gave $60 million. No one said even thank you,” said Trump.

“Other nations have to step up,” he added, noting that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged that Europe would also provide assistance.

The president blamed Hamas for the  hunger in Gaza, saying that the terror group regularly steals aid. “We’ve given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else. A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas, and a lot of the food is stolen.”

When Hamas is in control of humanitarian aid, it uses it to recruit teenagers, TPS reported in May.

“Hamas controls aid; it’s one of their things. We see it all. Hamas acts physically. This is not intelligence,” a member of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, told TPS. “… Hamas takes the aid in Gaza.”

COGAT coordinates the entry of food trucks into Gaza, with the GHF partnering in the effort alongside various security contractors to help deliver meals. However, U.N. aid agencies have strongly criticized this approach, arguing that cooperating with Israel compromises their neutrality.

According to GHF, it has delivered over 42 million meals so far and maintains daily operations despite the killing a number of its volunteers by Hamas during the mission.