Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel has been starving the people of Gaza for many months. It was so bad in November 2024 that the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare. But there seemed to be nothing that Netanyahu could do what as sufficiently horrific for the United States government to admit there was any problem. Until 28 July 2025.

Then US President Donald Trump, when he was asked whether he agreed with Netanyahu that there was no starvation in Gaza, said: “I don’t know. 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.”

Given that Trump is often ambiguous and frequently says contradictory things, this can be taken as a relatively positive “No”.

Even during Trump’s visit Netanyahu had said that it was a “bold-faced lie” to say Israel was causing hunger in Gaza. He’s an even bigger liar than Trump. But it was probably the result of pressure from Trump that on 27 July Israel announced a “local tactical pause in military activity … for humanitarian purposes,” as we previously reported.