Trump says he wants Netanyahu to 'make sure they get the food' in Gaza amid humanitarian crisis
Washington, Jul 28 (AP): President Donald Trump on Monday expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged Israel to get people food, seemingly recalibrating his stance on Gaza as images of emaciated children have sparked renewed worries about hunger in the war-torn territory.
Trump, speaking in Scotland on Monday, said the US and other nations are giving money and food to Gaza but that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “got to sort of like run it.”
“I want him to make sure they get the food,” Trump said. “I want to make sure they get the food.”
Trump's comments seemed to result from the images in recent days of the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza and were more urgent than the resigned message he had about the 21-month Israel-Hamas war last week, when ceasefire talks derailed. His remarks Monday also marked a new divergence from Netanyahu after the two leaders had become closer following their nations' join strikes in Iran.
The US president was asked if he agreed with Netanyahu's comments on Sunday in which the Israeli leader said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza.”
“I don't know," Trump replied Monday. "I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”
Trump says US will set up food centres in Gaza
In the face of mounting international criticism, the Israeli military over the weekend began airdrops of aid, along with limited pauses in fighting in three populated areas of Gaza for 10 hours a day to help with the distribution.
Trump on Friday had expressed some resignation about the situation in Gaza after the US and Israel pulled their negotiating teams out of talks in Qatar to try to reach a ceasefire. Trump said last week that Hamas was likely “going to be hunted down” and said of Israel, “They're going to have to fight and they're going to have to clean it up.”
But Trump seemed more inclined to action on Monday after reports of starvation-related deaths and images of people, especially young children and infants, struggling to get food continued to emerge over the weekend, drew international outcry.
The US president, speaking as he visited with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Trump's Turnberry golf course, said that the US was “going to set up food centres,” but he didn't offer specifics.
The White House did not immediately have more information about the food centers.
International outcry grows louder
While Trump urged Netanyahu to do more to deliver aid, the US leader faced similar pleas.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said in a televised address on Monday that Trump is “the one who is able to stop the war, deliver the aid and end this suffering.”
“Please, make every effort to stop this war and deliver the aid,” el-Sissi said, addressing Trump in his remarks “I believe that it's time to end this war.”
Trump said Hamas has stolen food and aid trying to reach people in Gaza, but when asked by a reporter about what responsibility Israel has for limiting aid to the area, he said, “Israel has a lot of responsibility.”
But he quickly said Israel was also hampered in its actions as it seeks to keep the remaining 20 hostages kept in Gaza alive.
When asked by what more can Israel do, Trump said, “I think Israel can do a lot.” But he didn't offer more details and changed the subject to Iran.
“We have to help on a humanitarian basis before we do anything. We have to get the kids fed.”
Starmer was more adamant than Trump, calling it “a desperate situation” in Gaza.
“I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they are seeing on their screens,” he said.
US and UK leaders discuss Gaza as UN discusses Israel-Palestinian two-state solution
Starmer, who faces pressure from his Labour Party to recognize a Palestinian state as France did last week, said the UK supports statehood for the Palestinians but it must be part of a plan for a two-state solution.
Trump said last week that France's recognition of a Palestinian state “doesn't carry any weight.”
“I'm not going to take a position,” Trump said Monday of recognizing a Palestinian state. He added of Starmer, “I don't mind him taking a position.”
The comments came as the UN General Assembly on Monday brought together high-level officials to promote a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israel and the US are boycotting the two-day meeting.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
