Amid growing reports of a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly faced a blunt reprimand from US President Donald Trump during a recent phone call, NBC News has reported.
According to the outlet, the tense exchange followed Netanyahu’s attempt to dismiss accounts of widespread starvation in Gaza as Hamas propaganda.
The coastal enclave remains largely cut off from food supplies due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign, leaving civilians in the grip of severe shortages, malnutrition, and starvation. In recent weeks, reports have emerged of multiple deaths linked to malnutrition.
Speaking in Jerusalem on July 27, Netanyahu publicly rejected allegations that Israel was pursuing such a policy, stating: “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza.”
However, Trump openly contradicted him the following day, acknowledging “real starvation” and saying he had seen photographs of hungry children, describing the situation in Gaza as “a mess.”
The disagreement reportedly prompted Netanyahu to request a private discussion with Trump. But during the call, when the Israeli leader again attempted to downplay the reports, Trump became visibly angry, according to NBC. The US president is said to have cut Netanyahu off, shouting that he did not want to hear claims the starvation reports were fake.
NBC, citing sources, said Trump told Netanyahu he had already been shown evidence supporting the reports of starvation in Gaza. One former US official described the conversation as “a direct, mostly one-way conversation,” with Trump dominating the exchange.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate as Israel presses its military campaign to dismantle Hamas’s remaining infrastructure. While famine has not been formally declared, two of the three UN-recognised famine indicators — a sharp drop in food consumption and widespread acute malnutrition — have already been met, according to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, have condemned Israel’s militarized food distribution in Gaza as “institutionalized starvation and dehumanization,” underscoring the urgent need for international intervention.
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