Trump says many are starving in Gaza, vows to set up food centers
As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fueling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.
Describing starvation in Gaza as real, Trump's assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Sunday "there is no starvation in Gaza" and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- a statement he reposted on X on Monday.
Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved.
"You have a lot of starving people," he said.
"We're going to set up food centers," with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump said. The U.S. would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation, he said.
A White House spokesperson said additional details on the food centers would be "forthcoming."
On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war's death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks.
Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday.
Wessal Nabil from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza described the struggle of trying to feed her three children.
"When you go to bed hungry, you wake up hungry. We distract them with anything ... to make them calm down," she told Reuters. "I call on the world, on those with merciful hearts, the compassionate, to look at us with compassion, to be kind to us, to stand with us until aid comes in and ensure it reaches us."
Two Israeli defense officials said the international pressure prompted the new Israeli measures, as did the worsening conditions on the ground.
U.N. agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched -- short of the target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said.
"Our target at the moment, every day, is to get 100 trucks into Gaza," Samer AbdelJaber, WFP regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, told Reuters.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic. "At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out."
Netanyahu has denied any policy of starvation toward Gaza, saying aid supplies would be kept up whether Israel was negotiating a ceasefire or fighting.
A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said Israel had not placed a time limit on the humanitarian pauses in its military operation, a day after U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said Israel had decided "to support a one-week scale-up of aid."
"We hope this pause will last much longer than a week, ultimately turning into a permanent ceasefire," Fletcher's spokesperson, Eri Kaneko, said on Monday.
Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Compared to last week, U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said, there had only been a "small uptick" in the amount of aid being transported into Gaza since Israel started the humanitarian pauses.
In his statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would continue to fight until it achieved the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of its military and governing capabilities.
Trump said Hamas had become difficult to deal with in recent days, but he was talking with Netanyahu about "various plans" to free hostages still held in the enclave.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked communities across the border in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
Some of the trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, witnesses said.
"Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped, and protection for those trucks must be allowed," said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City.
The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring it into the enclave.
COGAT said more than 120 truckloads of aid were distributed in Gaza on Sunday by the U.N. and international organizations.
More aid was expected on Monday. Qatar said it had sent 49 trucks that arrived in Egypt en route for Gaza. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped supplies.
Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Hamas accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon.
Israel says it abides by international law but must prevent aid from being diverted by militants, and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people.
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