President Trump is making plans for the US to take over the humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza as famine looms over the Palestinian enclave, American and Israeli officials said.
Trump, who has criticized the ongoing mass hunger in the Gaza Strip, is “not thrilled” at the prospect of having to take over aid distribution from Israel, but he believes that there’s no other way to address concerns of famine, officials familiar with the talks told Axios.
“The starvation problem in Gaza is getting worse. Donald Trump does not like that,” a US official said. “He does not want babies to starve.“He wants mothers to be able to nurse their children. He’s becoming fixated on that,” the official added.
Trump has split from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli leader’s claims that widespread starvation isn’t happening in Gaza.
The president asserted last week that the images of emaciated children can’t be faked.
While details of how the US would take over the humanitarian aid distribution remains unclear, Trump is reportedly worried about having the US foot the bill to feed Gaza’s nearly two million refugees.
“The president doesn’t want to see the U.S. being the only country throwing money at this problem. It’s a global problem,” a second US official said.
To that end, Trump has tapped his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and others in his administration to get America’s European and Arab allies on board to help.
Israel is set to support an increased American role in distributing aid to Gaza amid criticisms that the Jewish state is hindering the humanitarian process.
The United Nations has repeatedly accused Israel of hampering its ability to send in thousands of trucks filled with aid into Gaza over security concerns.
Israel, meanwhile, says the UN is the cause of the aid bottleneck.
While more trucks have been allowed to enter Gaza in recent weeks, they have been regularly raided by hungry Palestinians and armed fighters, with only 12% of the vehicles reaching their intended destination since mid-May, according to the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has also been plagued with daily violence since the controversial group became the sole provider of aid distribution in the enclave.
More than 1,000 people have been reportedly killed so far in shootings at the GHF aid sites in recent weeks, with no humanitarian organization agreeing to work with the group over the presence of armed Israeli soldiers near aid distribution points.
Several nations are currently rushing to provide hundreds of aid packages to Gaza, with Canada, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany and Belgium all conducting air drops.
