US President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected calling the Israeli army’s actions in the Gaza Strip a genocide. More than 60,800 Palestinians have died from its attacks in nearly two years, including nearly 200 from hunger or malnutrition, while defending his country as the “only one” contributing to “feed” the Gazans.
When asked about the existence of “evidence of genocide” in the Palestinian enclave, the president stated that he “doesn’t believe so,” suggesting that what has been taking place in Gaza for more than 20 months is a “war.”
The White House leader took the opportunity to recall that “horrible things happened on October 7th,” referring to the attacks carried out by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that left some 1,200 dead and 250 kidnapped. “It was horrible, horrible, the worst I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen a lot of bad things since I’ve been president in terms of wars,” he declared.
Furthermore, referring to the starvation faced by residents of the Gaza Strip, where some 175 people, including 93 children, have already died from this cause, the White House leader stated that “we just want people to have food, and we’re the only country that’s actually doing that. We’re providing money to feed people.”
Thus, he defended the “excellent” work of his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who last Friday visited an aid distribution station run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), the US-Israeli NGO accused of turning its distributions into a trap that has cost the lives of more than 1,000 Palestinians.
“We want Israel to feed them. We’re making significant contributions, basically to buy food and feed people. We don’t want people to go hungry or starve to death,” he asserted, after confirming last week that he is working on a new humanitarian aid distribution plan.
Authorities in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), on Sunday put the death toll at more than 60,800 as a result of the Israeli offensive against the enclave following the attacks of October 7, 2023, including nearly 1,500 who were shot by Israeli troops while trying to obtain aid and 175 from hunger or malnutrition.
