Israel ambassador Mike Huckabee says Hamas 'could use some Ozempic'
Amid mass starvation in Gaza, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said the leaders of Hamas aren't experiencing anything close to the famine-like conditions civilians are enduring.
"They don't care about people getting to eat," Ambassador Mike Huckabee told TV host Piers Morgan. "And if you look at the people from Hamas when they get photographed, they're well-fed. None of them are hungry. I guarantee you – look at their faces; look at their bodes. And instead of food, they could use some Ozempic."
The comments came as international outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks. The United Nations' World Food Programme has warned that a third of Gaza's population isn't eating for days at a time. (Starvation of a civilian population as a method of war is a crime under international laws.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to deny that civilians are starving, saying as he announced a new offensive into the Gaza Strip that assessments of the situation have been exaggerated.
Read more: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza
In the interview on Aug. 11, Huckabee defended the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an aid distribution system supported by the U.S. and Israel that has been criticized by other foreign leaders and international organizations for generating violence near distribution sites.
Huckabee said Hamas, the Palestinian militant group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, "hates" the GHF because its aid distribution methods have hurt Hamas' capacity to "control the food market."
"Yeah, there's some real deprivation in that country," he said. "But it's not because GHF is killing people."
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10 minutes ago
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