Trump says Gazans are starving despite Netanyahu denial, Israeli misinformation campaign

Despite his pro-Israeli stance, US President Donald Trump has acknowledged the ongoing starvation and malnutrition crisis in the Gaza Strip, during a visit to the UK.

Speaking in Scotland, the Republican said Palestinians in the besieged and war-battered enclave are facing "real starvation".

"I see it, you can’t fake that," he said.

Trump said Washington and its international partners intend to help set up food centres to feed the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, where hunger and malnutrition cases have reached heightened levels. At least 147 Palestinians have died of such, including 88 children.

Trump also said he will make sure that there are no fences or barriers to "stop people" from receiving aid, referencing the scores of Palestinians scrambling to receive food who may have been refused such due to long queues.

"We're going to be getting some good strong food, we can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids -- that's real starvation stuff," he said at a news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "We have to get the kids fed."

Trump’s acknowledgment of hunger in Gaza contradicts what his ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on the same day regarding the matter.

The Israeli premier vehemently denied the hunger crisis currently plaguing the besieged and enclave in a public address on Monday.

"There is no starvation in Gaza. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals."

"We will continue to fight until we achieve the release of our hostages and the destruction of Hamas' military and governing capabilities," he added.

In the same address, Netanyahu rubbished international reporting on Israel’s starvation campaign in Gaza, calling it "a bold-faced lie" and justified his claims by saying that Israel has permitted humanitarian aid into the enclave over the duration of the war.

He then went on to blame Hamas for obstructing aid from reaching Palestinians.

Israel on Sunday said it would allow pauses in its onslaught of Gaza to enable the entry of humanitarian aid. Hamas slammed this, saying that only a total lift of the siege and end to the war would prevent Palestinians from going hungry.

Israel’s total siege on the Gaza Strip, imposed since March, has largely been to blame for the ongoing famine. UN agencies and other aid NGOs have urged Israel to lift the blockade and open border crossings to allow the entry of life-saving aid.

The only relief allowed into the enclave has been via the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) group, whose aid distribution points have been described as "death traps" as Israeli gunfire has killed over 1,000 Palestinians since late May.

Echoing Netanyahu’s denial, a number of pro-Israeli accounts and pro-government outlets have attempted to shift the blame from the Netanyahu cabinet to Hamas or implying that the pictures flooding social media every day of emaciated Palestinian children are fake.

The Times of Israel and Israel Hayom, for example, have parroted the Israeli military narrative that five-year-old Osama al-Rakab’s emaciated appearance is due to a "genetic illness" and that he is being treated abroad.

Al-Rakab's skeletal frame and shrinking body have emerged as one of the most painful markers of Israel's ongoing starvation policy in Gaza, which has been acknowledged by leading UN agencies.

Misinformation campaign

Additionally, a number of pro-Israeli accounts have resorted to spreading misinformation on social media over images of hungry Palestinians.

One child, distressed as she is awaiting food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City, has been accused by pro-Israeli accounts of being Yezidi, and claimed the image was from 2014 and taken in Iraq’s Mount Sinjar, at the time of the Islamic State group’s persecution of the minority group.

The picture of the girl, in fact, was taken on 26 July by Associated Press video journalist Abdel Kareem Hana, as verified by The New Arab.

The misinformation campaign over the Palestinian girl has once again thrusted into the spotlight the inaccuracies and misinformation spread by Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, who also claimed that the Palestinian girl was Yezidi.

However, Haaretz, one of Israel’s outlets more critical of the Netanyahu government, has published several articles acknowledging Tel Aviv’s starvation campaign in the Palestinian territory.

Three days ago, the Israeli daily published an opinion piece titled: "Denying Gaza's Starvation Is No Less Vile Than Denying the Holocaust". On Monday, an analysis piece on their website blamed Israel for the crisis, as opposed to the UN which Tel Aviv has tried to blame.

The opening line read: "The Israeli government is guilty of the crime of starving Gaza."

On Tuesday, UN-backed experts said Gaza is slipping into famine, adding that the "worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip".

The World Food Programme's emergency director, Ross Smith, likened the situation to some of the worst famines of the past century.

"This is unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra," Smith said via video-link from Rome. "We need urgent action now."