Trump says there is 'real starvation' in Gaza after Netanyahu denies Israel is responsible for starving Palestinians

United States President Donald Trump has said that there is "real starvation" in Gaza and that the U.S. vows to set up food centres to help Palestinians.

This comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that there is "no starvation in Gaza", a statement he reposted on X on Jul. 28.

U.S. vowed to set up food centres in Gaza

In a meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Jul. 28, Trump said that "the whole place is a mess" and that he had told Israel "to do it a different way".

"I mean... some of those kids are... it's real starvation stuff, I see it... and you can't fake that."

According to Reuters, Trump stated that the U.S. would be setting up food centres in Gaza, with no fences or boundaries to ease access.

He stated that with this, they "can save a lot of people".

Further details on the centres would be provided soon, according to a White House spokesperson.

Trump further added that the U.S. would be working with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation.

'What a bold-faced lie': Netanyahu claims Israel is not responsible for starvation in Gaza

Netanyahu previously denied any form of starvation in Gaza and rejected accusations of being responsible for food shortages.

In response to claims that Israel was deliberately starving Palestinians, Netanyahu stated that it is "a bold-faced lie", BBC reported.

He added that "there is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza".

He also said that Israel enabled humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip throughout the duration of the war.

However, in a statement issued on Jul. 28, the same day as the Trump comments, Netanyahu described the situation in Gaza as "difficult" and affirmed that that Israel is working to ensure aid delivery to Gaza.

He added that Israel would continue to coordinate with international organisations, along with the U.S. and European nations, to ensure that significant amounts of aid reach those need it in the Gaza Strip.

At least 14 in Gaza dead in the past 24 hours

Reuters reported that on Jul. 28, the Gaza health ministry said that at least 14 people had died of starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.

This brings the death toll from hunger to 147, 88 of which are children.

Israel's new measures are not enough

According to Reuters, Israel previously announced several new measures on Jul. 27, including a halt in military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza, airdrops and new designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine.

BBC reported that on the same day, 120 lorry loads were collected from crossings during the first daily 10-hour humanitarian pauses in military operations, and Jordan and the united Arab Emirates airdropped 28 packages of food in total.

However, UN's humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that what was delivered was just "a drop in the ocean" of what was required.

He warned that the situation is critical and called for a significant increase in the scale and speed of the aid delivered.

He added that he believed the military pauses would only last about a week, making the aid "clearly insufficient".

"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."

Some of the aid trucks that made it into Gaza were seized by desperate Palestinians, and some by armed looters, Reuters reported.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza government, only 87 aid trucks managed to enter the Gaza strip on Jul. 28.

It claimed that majority of the trucks were looted, attributing the chaos to what it described as "direct and systematic Israeli complicity".

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza.

If granted access, the agency stated that the amount of food would be enough to feed the entire population for the next three months.

Top photo via AFP