\u201cBut most of it is fake, fake distributed by Hamas,\u201d Defrin said. \u201cIt\u2019s a campaign. Unfortunately, some of the Israeli media, including some of the international media, is distributing this information and those false pictures, and creating an image of starvation which doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Palestinians struggle to access food as a charity distributes meals in Gaza City, amid Israel\u2019s blockade and ongoing attacks, on Monday.<\/p>\n
(Khames Alrefi \/ Anadolu \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Trump rejected that explanation on Monday, telling reporters during a visit to Scotland that the United States would increase its efforts to get food into the territory. \u201cThat\u2019s real starvation,\u201d he said. \u201cI see it, and you can\u2019t fake that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael can do a lot,\u201d he added, replying to a question on whether the state could help end the hunger crisis.<\/p>\n
An Israeli official told The Times that the Israeli government stands by Defrin\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n
Israel opened additional corridors for humanitarian aid and began its own air drops of food on Sunday. The Israeli official said that, while aid is getting into Gaza, the United Nations and its affiliate organizations are failing to properly distribute it. Humanitarian workers have argued that conditions on the ground, with combat ongoing, have made it impossible for them to operate.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s office has argued that Hamas is diverting food and aid away from civilians as a war tactic. But assessments by USAID<\/a> and the Israeli military<\/a> found no evidence that Hamas is doing so on a wide scale.<\/p>\n In late May, Israel halted relief work by the United Nations and other humanitarian aid groups and handed those efforts to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Critics say the foundation\u2019s efforts have been insufficient and haphazard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Palestinians carry humanitarian aid they received at the Rafah corridor as they walk in the Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.<\/p>\n (AFP\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Last week, the World Health Organization said it has documented 21 children under 5 that had died of causes related to malnutrition<\/a> since the beginning of the year, and the U.N. humanitarian office, OCHA, said that at least 13 children\u2019s deaths were reported just this month.<\/p>\n The crisis comes as two Israeli rights groups long critical of the current Israeli government \u2014 B\u2019Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel \u2014 issued assessments that the Israeli campaign amounts to a genocide against Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cAn examination of Israel\u2019s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,\u201d the B\u2019Tselem report stated. \u201cIn other words: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel began striking Hamas in Gaza after the organization launched a devastating attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 1,200 Israeli civilians and security forces, and taking 251 others hostage. <\/p>\n The Israeli response has leveled entire Palestinian cities and displaced nearly all 2 million Palestinian inhabitants of the territory, killing nearly 60,000 Palestinian civilians and militants. On Monday, another series of strikes killed at least <\/a>36 Palestinians <\/a>in Gaza, according to Hamas\u2019 health ministry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n