Former U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that there is “real starvation” occurring in Gaza, contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that such claims are false.
When asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s assertion that allegations of Israel fueling hunger in Gaza were a “bold-faced lie,” Trump responded, “I don’t know… those children look very hungry… that’s real starvation stuff.”
During a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, Trump remarked, “Nobody’s done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess… I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.”
Trump’s comments follow warnings from the UN’s humanitarian chief, who stated that “vast amounts” of food are urgently needed to prevent widespread starvation.
Tom Fletcher told the BBC that he welcomed Israel’s recent measures, including allowing more aid into Gaza through airdrops and implementing military pauses to facilitate the passage of food convoys.
However, Fletcher emphasized that the aid delivered thus far is merely “a drop in the ocean” compared to the actual needs.
“It’s the beginning, but the next few days are really make or break. We need to deliver at a much, much greater scale. We need vast amounts of aid going in, much faster,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
According to Israel, 120 lorry loads of aid were collected from crossings on Sunday during the first daily 10-hour “tactical pause” in military operations. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates also airdropped 28 packages of food.
Hours after Fletcher’s remarks, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported that another 14 people had died due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours.
The ministry stated that this brings the total number of malnutrition-related deaths since the conflict began in October 2023 to 147, including 88 children.
Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into Gaza, has denied that starvation is occurring and has rejected accusations of being responsible for food shortages.
On Sunday, the Israeli military initiated actions it claimed would improve the “humanitarian response” in Gaza and refute “the false claim of deliberate starvation.”
Israel announced a “local tactical pause” in three areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day, along with the establishment of “designated secure routes” for aid convoys.
The military also permitted the resumption of aid drops carried out by foreign countries, despite warnings from humanitarian agencies about the method’s ineffectiveness and potential dangers.
Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid entry into Gaza, reported that over 120 lorry loads of aid were collected from crossings by the UN and other international organizations on Sunday, with hundreds more lorry loads awaiting collection.
Fletcher countered that the UN had collected fewer than 100 lorry loads in that time, noting that an average of 600 to 700 loads had entered Gaza daily during the two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at the beginning of the year.
When asked to respond to Israel’s criticism of UN agencies for not collecting aid from crossings, he said: “We’re not going to leave on pallets if we can. But to get to it our drivers face bureaucratic constraints, they face massive security constraints.”
He also reported that the majority of the UN’s food lorries were looted after entering Gaza on Sunday.
“Most of those lorries… were hit by desperate individual civilians, starving. The flour was taken off those lorries and its very, very dangerous for our drivers.”
Fletcher further cautioned that UN teams on the ground believed the Israeli military’s pauses would only last a week or so, which he deemed “clearly insufficient when before our eyes we’re seeing this 21st Century atrocity on the ground.”
“We need a sustained period of delivery – weeks, months – to build up, to stop that starvation and build up the supplies again. Ultimately, we need a ceasefire. Pauses are a good step in the right direction, but stopping the conflict is the key.”
Netanyahu on Sunday strongly denied claims that Israel was deliberately starving civilians in Gaza, which would constitute a war crime.
“What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” he said.
“We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans. And what has interdicted the supply of humanitarian aid is one force, Hamas. Again, the reversal of truth,” he added.
Netanyahu asserted that the Israeli military’s humanitarian pauses and corridors meant the UN had “no excuses left” not to collect and distribute all the aid from the crossings.
“Stop lying. Stop finding excuses. Do what you have to do.”
On Monday night, Netanyahu’s office stated that Israel would collaborate with aid groups, the US, and European nations to ensure “large amounts of humanitarian aid flows” into Gaza.
The statement acknowledged that the “situation in Gaza is difficult” but claimed that Hamas “benefits from attempting to fuel the perception of a humanitarian crisis” by releasing “unverified numbers” and “circulating images that are carefully stage or manipulated.”
The Israeli government does not permit international news organizations, including the BBC, to enter Gaza and report freely on the situation.
On Sunday, the World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was “on a dangerous trajectory in the Gaza Strip, marked by a spike in deaths in July.”
Out of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza in 2025, 63 had occurred this month, including 24 children under five and one child over five, according to the UN agency.
“Most of these people were declared dead on arrival at health facilities or died shortly after, their bodies showing clear signs of severe wasting,” it added.
The WHO stated that the crisis was “entirely preventable” and condemned what it called the “deliberate blocking and delay of large-scale food, health, and humanitarian aid.”
Hamas has denied stealing aid. On Sunday, the New York Times cited senior Israeli military officials as stating that the military had never found evidence that the armed group had systematically stolen aid from the UN. Reuters news agency also reported last week that a US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded aid.
On Monday, local hospital sources reported that Israeli attacks across Gaza had killed more than 30 people, including aid seekers.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 59,821 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The BBC’s international editor was on a Jordanian flight as it dropped supplies into Gaza.
Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are expected to meet in Scotland for talks on Monday.
This might be a tacit admission by the Israelis that they need to do more – but more likely the measures are a response to allies.
The IDF also announces a “tactical pause” in fighting in parts of Gaza, after mounting pressure and warnings of starvation.
Israel says aid convoys will be allowed into Gaza, after weeks of mounting pressure and warnings of starvation.