President Donald Trump has had a great sense of the power of the images, and the images of children who die of hunger in Gaza are motivating him to redouble humanitarian aid efforts from the United States there.
He was “disturbed” and “worried” about the images, most of which he saw in news clips, said a tall White House official to NBC News.
“We can save many people,” Trump said Monday during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. “I mean, some of those children are, that is a real hunger material. I see it and you cannot pretend it. So we will be even more involved.”
White House officials said Trump had previously approved $ 60 million to help Gaza, but that he had received little public notice and that the promise of more food, and a better system to ensure that he reaches civilians, points to continuous need.
“He has continued to see photos of hungry children and wants to continue helping,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, NBC News. In 2017, the images of victims of chemical weapons attacks led Trump to launch Missile Tomahawk about Syria.
Trump said on Monday that the United States would work with international partners, including Britain and other European nations, to finance and establish food delivery centers in Gaza, aligning with countries that have been much more critical of Israel. A person familiar with Trump’s thought said that, in addition to reacting to the images, he received “an ear” of the leaders of Starmer and the European Union on the situation in Gaza.
And although it remains to be seen if there will be any substantive change in American politics towards Israel, Trump’s approach to food aid occurs when much of the world, including a growing part of the American public, disapproves of Israel.
In a rare public reprimand, Trump said Monday that he does not agree with the evaluation of Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister that no one is starving in Gaza.
“Based on television, I would say not in particular,” Trump said. “Because those children seem very hungry.”
In doing so, it echoed the feelings of some in their Maga political base that have become more vocally critical with Israel during a war that will reach its second anniversary in October. Maga’s support to help the Palestinians became more pronounced on social networks during the weekend, adding weight of political right to long -standing left -wing calls for help.
“I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on October 7 was horrible,” representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, republican of G-GA., A close ally of Trump, wrote Sunday in X. “Just as I can say unequivocally that what has been happening with innocent people and children in Gaza is horrible. “” “
Theo Von, a popular podcast that supported Trump’s presidential campaign in 2024, begged Trump and the leaders of both parties that “obtained help from Gaza now?”
“Children are starving!” He wrote Sunday in X. “We are America. It’s not about politics. It’s about humanity.”
The proliferation of images of emaciated children caused a recent international outrage, said Basim El-Arra, executive director of the Civil Rights Muslim group and Cair Action defense, which leads the public to floods to elected officials with telephone calls and for the influential to intervene.
“They are listening to their constituents everywhere. We are talking about Republicans, Democrats, friends on the right, people from the left. People say enough ‘enough’. Great influencers on all sides are coming out and calling our elected officials for not stopping this.
“Some people thought that he will stop this as he promised during the campaign. And then it was a promise after another. But the reality in the field is that the genocide continues, and they are giving coverage and sending more money and weapons to Israel,” he said. “We still believe that he is the only one who can really stop this. A phone call to Netanyahu that says: ‘Enough is enough. That’s.
The extensive famine and hunger reports have been emerging for months, including an outstanding piece of the New York Times at the end of May, which included an image of a 6 -year -old boy of 21 pounds.
Trump’s comments occurred a day after former President Barack Obama issued a rare statement about a matter of foreign policy in response to the last coverage of the New York Times of the death of Gazans de Inanión.
Vice President JD Vance asked Israel and the Arab States in the Gulf to make sure the food arrives in Gaza while talking to journalists in Canton, Ohio, Monday.
“We want to make sure they get food,” said Vance, who emphasized that he blames Hamas for the crisis, he said in response to a NBC News question during a visit to a steel factory.
“We also have to make sure Hamas gets gaza and let the food enter that terrible and terrible situation, because I don’t know if all have seen these images, they have some really heartbreaking cases.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the Israeli army has no evidence that Hamas has systematically stole the help of the United Nations, according to two Israeli military officers and two Israeli involved in the matter they spoke with the media.
Vance, who referred to Trump’s comments, added that he sees Israel’s position as difficult.
“Of course, they would love that food arrives in Gaza to avoid this terrible hunger. They say: ‘Well, you have to keep Hamas to the same standard,” Vance said. “Let’s be honest. Hamas is a terrorist organization. If we ever have Hamas to bring food to Gaza, you will only have more hungry children.”
The fine points of Trump’s plan have not yet been publicly presented, but administration officials said Monday that he is committed to solving the starvation problem.
“President Trump wants to relieve suffering for the people of Gaza because he has a humanitarian heart,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “He announced a new help plan today to help Gazanes get crucial access to food; the details are presented.”
