Former President Barack Obama issued a rare statement weighing in on the hunger situation in Gaza on Sunday, suggesting aid must flow to Palestinians regardless of whether Israel can secure a hostage deal for now.
Obama made the statement on social media in reference to reporting from the New York Times stating that ‘Gazans are dying of starvation.’ Israel, which blockaded aid to Gaza earlier this year, has recently begun to airdrop aid resources into the region, and its leaders argue reports of starvation are a false campaign promoted by Hamas. Reporting from Fox News’ Trey Yingst has indicated that hunger is indeed spreading across the region, however.
‘While a lasting resolution to the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all hostages and a cessation of Israel’s military operations, these articles underscore the immediate need for action to be taken to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation,’ Obama wrote on X, providing a link to the Times.
‘Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,’ he added.
President Donald Trump touted U.S. efforts to provide aid to Gaza when asked about the situation on Sunday. Meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the time, he stated that Europe has not provided aid to Gaza. He also said that Hamas is stealing much of the aid being sent to Palestinians, a claim Israel has put forward repeatedly.
‘When I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks people are stealing the food, they’re stealing the money, they’re stealing the money for the food. They’re stealing weapons, they’re stealing everything,’ Trump told reporters.
‘It’s a mess, that whole place is a mess. The Gaza Strip, you know it was given many years ago so they could have peace. That didn’t work out too well,’ he added.
The IDF says it conducted 28 drops in a matter of hours on Sunday, in addition to transferring some 250 aid trucks over the course of the week.
‘Let me be clear: Israel supports aid for civilians, not for Hamas. The IDF will continue to support the flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,’ an IDF spokesperson said Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also pushed back on criticism of his regime, arguing that the United Nations has been falsely pushing claims of widespread starvation. He told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday that it has long been Israel’s policy to allow aid into Gaza so long as it did not benefit Hamas.
‘We’ve done this so far,’ Netanyahu told the paper. ‘But the U.N. is spreading lies and falsehoods about Israel. They say we don’t allow humanitarian supplies in, yet we do. There are secure corridors. They’ve always existed, but now it’s official. No more excuses.’
