Admission follows Netanyahu's denial as global monitor issues famine warning

United States President Donald Trump acknowledged on Monday that there is "real starvation" in the Gaza Strip, exposing differing views a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied claims of a hunger crisis in the territory.

Trump made the remark alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, while visiting Scotland.

"Some of those kids are — that's real starvation stuff," Trump told reporters. "I see it, and you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved."

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Starmer called the situation on the ground in Gaza "absolutely intolerable". For the British public, "those images of starving children in particular are revolting", he said.

Farhan Mujahid Chak, a visiting faculty at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, said the difference in opinion of Trump and Netanyahu "reflects the deepening schism and the accelerating distance between US policy in the Middle East and Israeli policy".

The Israelis are having a difficult time "trying to cover up" what everybody — including their own major human rights organizations — is describing as "genocide", Chak said.

On Monday, two prominent Israeli rights groups released separate reports accusing Israel of committing genocide.

B'Tselem said an examination of Israeli policy in Gaza, the "horrific outcomes", and statements by senior Israeli politicians and commanders about the goals of the attack, led to "the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip".

"Nothing prepares you for the realization that you are part of a society committing genocide," Yuli Novak, executive director of B'Tselem, said in a statement. "This is a deeply painful moment for us."

Meanwhile, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel published a legal-medical analysis documenting what it called the deliberate and systematic destruction of Gaza's healthcare system.

"Israel is knowingly destroying Gaza's health system," said the group's executive director, Guy Shalev.

As people who believe in the sanctity of life, we "are obligated to speak the truth: This is genocide, and we must fight it".

Chak described the situation in Gaza as a defining moment for the global community — and particularly "a final moment" for the West, which he said has long propagated the idea of international standards.

Western duplicity on those purported standards has been uncovered, he said. "But then again, what's important to highlight is that this deepening division between US foreign policy and Israeli policy is going to have … serious consequences for the future of their relations."

At an event in Jerusalem on Sunday, Netanyahu denied that starvation is happening in Gaza. He later posted a clip of his remarks on X.

However, according to a Tuesday update from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, "the worst-case scenario of famine" is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.

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The global hunger monitoring agency projected in May that Gaza's entire population will face high levels of acute food insecurity by September.

"Since the last analysis, bombardments have intensified and ground operations expanded, with a devastating impact on civilians, with nearly 6,700 people killed and critical infrastructure destroyed," the Tuesday report said.

"Since mid-May, an additional 325,000 people have been displaced, and 88 percent of the territory is currently under evacuation orders or within militarized areas.

"People's access to food across Gaza is now alarmingly erratic and extremely perilous. Since May 27, over 1,000 people were killed while trying to access food in Gaza," it said.

Gaza's Health Ministry said on Tuesday the death toll in the 21-month conflict has climbed to 60,034, with another 145,870 people wounded.

Agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com