President Trump on Monday signaled a break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Trump acknowledged there was “real starvation” happening.
Trump told reporters during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he did “not particularly” agree with Netanyahu’s claim that there was no starvation happening in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s war against Hamas. The president also said the U.S. would take a more active role in getting food into the region.
Still, Trump has not gone as far as some European leaders in calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state. And he has largely stopped short of outright criticizing Israel for its role in preventing aid from getting to Palestinians.
“I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,” Trump told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s claim.
Stamer, standing beside Trump after greeting each other in Scotland, called the situation in Gaza, in which photos of malnourished children amid reports of 1 in 3 people going multiple days without eating show a crisis coming to a head, “absolutely intolerable” and “revolting.”
Trump and his administration have been involved in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas but so far no agreements have stuck. Trump recently put the blame on Hamas as the obstacle to a deal.
But the president has also routinely shown frustration with Netanyahu, with their bond being tested before over the continued fighting with the two leaders’ opposing assessments of starvation in the enclave being the latest example.
“He certainly seemed to have a different view of what’s happening on the ground in Gaza with respect to starvation or massive hunger,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“He also seemed to open the door for potential increase in funding or maybe a new approach,” Yacoubian added. “But whether that actually translates into something is a whole other question because we’ve certainly seen the president state a position then within 24 hours take a completely different view.”
Trump did succeed in getting Netanyahu to pull back fighter jets heading for Iran after he claimed success in a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Trump also went around Netanyahu to free an American-Israel hostage held by Hamas, and came to a deal with the Houthis in Yemen to halt attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
In May, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, announced the U.S. would take the lead in getting aid into Gaza, in the midst of an Israeli blockade. Israel came around in supporting the American-founded Gaza Humanitarian Fund as the sole distributor of aid in the strip.
But the GHF has come under intense scrutiny as contributing to the chaos and instability around aid distribution. Hungry Palestinians report being shot at by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), there are accusations that GHF contractors are using live ammunition, and the crowded and unsafe conditions have led to injuries and death.
“Since this GHF scheme began, public reports have found that more than 700 starving people have been killed and nearly 5,000 injured while desperately seeking food at or near often chaotic GHF distribution sites,” a group of Senate Democrats wrote Monday, calling for the administration to answer questions about the groups funding and operations.
“The U.S. government must stop facilitating the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operations and use U.S. leverage to urge the Netanyahu government to revert to the UN-led mechanism, both for the safety and well-being of Palestinians in Gaza and to preserve humanitarian principles that have existed for decades.”
Trump’s criticism of the humanitarian situation in Gaza came after Israel announced over the weekend it would take more steps to improve Palestinians’ access to food, responding to growing international outrage blaming Israel for the food crisis.
Israel in March imposed a blockade on Gaza, blocking humanitarian supplies and other goods from getting into the strip.
Still, Jerusalem focused blame on the United Nations and other international organizations as failing to pick up pallets of food and Hamas as bearing sole responsibility for the suffering in the strip. U.N. officials and aid organizations argue that food distribution efforts are too dangerous without meaningful coordination with Israel inside the strip.
“When bureaucratic and political hurdles are lifted, the humanitarian community has demonstrated it can deliver assistance at scale, in a dignified way, without diversion.During the ceasefire fire in earlier this year, we succeeded to reverse the deepening hunger,” Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians, posted on X on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said it would begin airdrops of food, temporarily halt fighting and open up designated humanitarian corridors “to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine to the population.”
“We call on the UN and its affiliated organizations to cooperate with this IDF effort and cease forthwith its tendentious policy of boycotting any effort that reverses its traditional mechanism of allowing the massive diversion of aid into the hands of Hamas,” Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said in a statement on Sunday.
Trump last Friday largely did not engage with questions about the crisis playing out in Gaza, instead repeatedly blaming Hamas for peace talks faltering and suggesting Israel would have to “finish the job.”
But his tone changed on Monday when he met with Starmer, who much more forcefully called the situation in Gaza “absolutely intolerable.”
Trump told reporters while sitting next to Starmer during a meeting that the U.S. would work to set up “food centers” in Gaza. He did not provide specifics on whether the U.S. would be involved on the ground or if a third party organization would assist, but indicated it would be a joint effort with other nations.
“I know your nation’s joining us, and we have all of the European nations joining us, and others also called and they want to be helpful. So we’re going to set up food centers and where the people can walk in and no boundaries. We’re not going to have fences,” Trump said.
“It’s going to be working with the United States. We’ll be helping with the food…and we’re going to bring it over there, and we’re also going to make sure they don’t have barriers stopping people,” Trump said when asked how the food centers would work.
Pressed on whether Israel, which has placed restrictions on aid getting into Gaza for months, can do more to get food to Palestinians, Trump said he thought Israel “can do a lot” before accusing Iran of derailing ceasefire talks despite his administration touting Tehran’s weakening following attacks by Israel.
Trump and Netanyahu have generally had a strong relationship despite the occasional hiccup. Trump has called for the corruption trial against Netanyahu to be canceled, while the Israeli leader presented Trump a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize during a recent White House visit.
Swaths of the Republican Party are also staunchly pro-Israel, and it’s unclear if there will be a sustained break between Trump and Netanyahu that would lead to a dramatic change in U.S. policy.
But there are signs parts of Trump’s base are growing frustrated with Israel, with the images coming out of Gaza adding to their calls for change.
Theo Von, who hosts one of the most popular podcasts in the country and has hosted both Trump and Vice President Vance on his show, posted a plea on social media on Sunday asking the president and other leaders to do more to get aid into Gaza.
“Children are starving to death!! We are America. This isnt about politics. This is about humanity,” Von posted on X.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Sunday called the situation in Gaza “horrific.”
“I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific,” Greene posted on X, referring to the date of Hamas’s deadly terrorist attacks against Israel in 2023.
“Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific,” she added. “This war and humanitarian crisis must end!”
Matt Gaetz, the former Republican congressman from Florida who withdrew as Trump’s nominee for attorney general, on Friday hosted on his show on One America News Network an Israeli father of a hostage held by Hamas. The father was calling for the U.S. to condition aid to Israel to get to a ceasefire with Hamas and criticized Netanyahu as “not acting in a responsible way”
“Incredible statement,” Gaetz wrote on X accompanying a clip of the interview. Gaetz had earlier criticized Israel for failing to investigate the death of an American-Palestinian allegedly killed in a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
