Netanyahu Denies Starvation in Gaza as Trump Acknowledges “Real Starvation”
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed that “there is no starvation” in Gaza, while US President Donald Trump contradicted him, citing Gaza’s emaciated children amid reports of mounting malnutrition deaths caused by Israel’s months-long aid blockade.
Appearing at an event in Jerusalem Sunday with Paula White-Cain, senior advisor of the White House Faith Office, Netanyahu denied that there was starvation in Gaza.
"Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza," Netanyahu said.
"We enabled humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise, there would be no Gazans," Netanyahu further claimed.
When Trump was asked on Monday as he met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland if he believed Netanyahu's claim that there is no starvation in the strip, Trump replied, "I don't know.”
He added, “I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry, but we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.”
Is There Starvation in Gaza?
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry on Monday, a total of 147, including 88 children, have died due to hunger and malnutrition since the start of the genocide in October 2023.
Over 100 humanitarian organizations, including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Oxfam, warned last week that “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza, with their colleagues in the enclave wasting away from hunger as Israel continues to block the entry of aid for more than four months.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Gaza City has been the area “worst-hit” by malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, with nearly one in five children under five there now acutely malnourished.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are “on the verge of catastrophic hunger,” with one in three people in the enclave going days without food.
Health officials in Gaza issued a stark warning lately: Hundreds of severely emaciated Palestinians are on the verge of death, their bodies too weak to resist any longer.
The Director of Al-Shifa Hospital said hospitals are dealing with hundreds suffering from severe hunger and malnutrition. “We don’t have enough beds or medicine,” he said. “We’re seeing symptoms like memory loss, exhaustion, and collapse from extreme hunger.”
He added: “We have 17,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition. This is a generation being starved to death.”
According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, over 650,000 children under the age of five face an imminent and severe risk of acute malnutrition in the coming weeks, out of a total of 1.1 million children in the Gaza Strip.
Currently, around 1.25 million people in Gaza are living under catastrophic hunger conditions, while 96% of the population is suffering from severe levels of food insecurity, including more than one million children, according to the Office.
UNRWA warned, “The Israeli Authorities are starving civilians in Gaza. Among them are 1 million children.”
Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, warned that Palestinians in Gaza face “an acute risk of famine”.
“No one should have to risk their life to get basic humanitarian assistance,” he said.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinians.
After more than 80 days of total blockade, starvation, and growing international outrage, limited aid has allegedly been distributed by the GHF, a scandal-plagued organization backed by the US and Israel, created to bypass the UN’s established aid delivery infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Most humanitarian organisations, including the UN, have distanced themselves from GHF, arguing that the group violates humanitarian principles by restricting aid to south and central Gaza, requiring Palestinians to walk long distances to collect aid, and only providing limited aid, among other critiques. They have also said the model would increase forced displacement in Gaza.
Moreover, mass killings of aid seekers near and at GHF aid sites have become a grim daily reality amid chaotic scenes, as desperate Palestinians are given only a narrow window to rush for food and are targeted by Israeli forces and American mercenaries.
Palestinians in Gaza and the UN described these sites as “mass death traps” and “slaughterhouses”.
On Saturday, the Israeli military announced a “tactical pause” in military activity in some areas of Gaza which it claimed would make it easier to send in UN convoys. However, attacks and killings have been reported across most of the Strip. This came following widespread condemnations, pressure and warnings.
A UN worker said the “last minute” aid windows may not be enough to treat malnourished children.
The UN confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.
However, Israel has deliberately engineered famine and chaos in Gaza, the Gaza Government Media Office said on Monday, as most of the aid trucks that entered Gaza were looted in a “systematic disorder fostered by the Israeli occupation”.
“What is happening in Gaza is a clear and deliberate model of how the Israeli occupation is consciously fostering chaos and engineering starvation,” the Media Office said, adding that aid is being intentionally prevented from reaching warehouses or intended recipients.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on Tuesday, two out of three famine thresholds for food consumption have been breached across most of Gaza, with acute malnutrition levels in Gaza City confirming aid agencies’ repeated warnings.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC assessment maintained.
“The worst-case scenario of Famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”
“It's clearly a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens,” said Ross Smith, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Director of Emergencies.
“This is not a warning, this is a call to action. This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” he told journalists in Geneva.
The last IPC analysis on Gaza, issued on May 12, forecast that the entire population would likely experience high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of September, with 469,500 people projected to likely hit "catastrophic" levels.
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