Trump says kids in Gaza are starving in break with Netanyahu
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A two-year old child in Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza Strip who is in poor health due to a lack of access to food and nutritional supplements. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images
President Trump said Monday that he disagrees with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that there is no starvation in Gaza.
What he is saying: "Based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry," Trump said when asked if he agreed with Netanyahu. Later he said, "There is real starvation in Gaza — you can't fake that."
The big picture: The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worse than ever, and ceasefire talks broke down last week.
- Trump and his top aides acknowledge privately and publicly that their strategy in Gaza hasn't worked. But they haven't yet decided whether or how to change it.
Driving the news: "Hamas don't want to give the hostages. I told Bibi that he will have to now maybe do it in a different way," Trump said Monday at the top of his meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.
- Trump added that a ceasefire "is possible" but "you have to end it."
- He suggested on Friday that Israel might have to fight harder to eliminate Hamas, a message that stands in stark contrast to that of Starmer and other the western leaders urging Israel to end the war.
- But he also said Monday that the situation in Gaza "is a mess" and stressed that civilians "have to get food and safety right now."
What he's saying: Later in his meeting with Starmer, Trump said it had been very difficult to deal with Hamas. He claimed the militant group uses the remaining 20 hostages it's holding as "protection."
- He claimed Iran intervened in the last round of negotiations and gave Hamas "orders" to toughen its positions.
- "I am speaking to Bibi Netanyahu and we are coming up with various plans," Trump said, adding that the situation could be resolved "very quickly" if not for the hostages. "You don't want to go riding roughshod over that area because that means those hostages would be killed," Trump said.
- "There are some people that would say, 'well that's the price you pay,' but we don't like to say that. And I don't think the people of Israel want to say that either," the president said, adding that Israelis would rather get the hostages back than get "retribution" against Hamas.
- Trump said the "most sensible" option is to address the situation through "talk and negotiations" but that it might not be possible to resolve it "unless you are very ruthless."
Behind the scenes: A source with knowledge said Trump was shown a video in English recently with polls published by Israeli television networks showing 70% of Israelis prioritize a hostage deal over anything else.
State of play: On Sunday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) started to implement daily humanitarian pauses in the fighting in several population centers across the Gaza Strip.
- The IDF on Sunday also conducted air drops of food in Gaza for the first time. The UAE and Jordan also conducted several air drops of food on Sunday and Monday.
- Despite his decision over the weekend to significantly change Israeli policy, on Sunday Netanyahu still claimed "there is no starvation in Gaza."
- The UN and other agencies have been reporting a growing number of deaths from starvation-related causes in recent weeks.
What to watch: Two of Netanyahu's senior aides traveled to the U.S. on Sunday and will hold talks this week with White House officials on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official and another source with knowledge told Axios.
- The visit by Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi come amid the stalemate in Gaza negotiations and as Israel and the U.S. coordinate the next steps on Iran.
Trump said on Sunday during a meeting with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that he'd spoken with Netanyahu about Iran.
- "I think Iran has been very nasty with their words. They got the hell knocked out of them, and I don't think they know it. Iran was beaten up very badly, for good reason. We cannot have them have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.
- He noted that Iran continues to insist it will enrich uranium on its soil under any deal. "Who would say that? How stupid can you be to say that? So we're not going to allow that to happen," Trump added.
