The Israeli Prime Minister denied reports of a mass famine in the region, stating that it is fabricated by the Palestinian movement “Hamas.” Meanwhile, Trump began shouting that he did not want to hear that the famine was just a hoax and claimed he had evidence that children in Gaza were starving. According to sources reported by NBC, Netanyahu and Trump had a private phone call on July 28, which turned into a heated argument amid White House concerns about the operation of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, a US and Israel-supported aid mechanism.
On July 23, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that the WHO is witnessing a sharp increase in deaths related to malnutrition in the Gaza Strip. He added that acute malnutrition in Gaza affects more than 10% of the population, and more than 20% of the pregnant and nursing women who were screened suffer from malnutrition, which is often severe.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened since Israel refused to cooperate with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which had been responsible for supplying Palestinians for decades. Hundreds of UNRWA distribution points have been replaced by four points opened by the private American organization GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Fund), supported by Israeli authorities in areas deemed free of “Hamas” presence.
The distribution of aid is regularly accompanied by Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinians. According to United Nations estimates, 1,373 people have been killed under such circumstances since May.
