Donald Trump has said Israel will “have to make a decision” about its next steps in the Gaza war, as aid officials warn that the coming days are “make or break” for starving Gazans.
“They don’t want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision,” Mr Trump said after the collapse of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.
“I know what I’d do, but I don’t think it’s appropriate that I say it,” he added.
It comes as a temporary pause in Israel’s military action from 10am to 8pm each day is set to allow more aid to be delivered to starving Palestinians.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher told the BBC that the halt in action in three areas of Gaza may only last “a week or so” – but that the UN needs “weeks, months to build up supplies again”.
Aid blockades in recent months caused fatal levels of starvation to tear through the enclave. Israel says the blockade is to prevent Hamas stealing aid from trucks, but internal US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian supplies, Reuters reported.
Donald Trump has said the US will increase aid to Gaza, and on Monday is due to discuss the topic during a meeting with British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer in Scotland.
Analysis | Starmer-Trump meeting could affect possible UK recognition of Palestine
Political editor David Maddox writes:
There is a lot of speculation within Labour this weekend that British prime minister Keir Starmer wants to recognise the state of Palestine as French president Emmanuel Macron did on Thursday.
But he cannot do it until after he has had his meeting with Donald Trump in Scotland – otherwise, the inevitable row over it would dominate proceedings.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio made it clear that the US was disgusted with France and thought Macron was “rewarding terrorism” by Hamas. A similar angry view would be taken with the UK.
However, the two do need to discuss the issues as the crisis comes to a head. Somehow, Trump’s enthusiasm for brokering a ceasefire there needs to be renewed; some think Starmer is the man to do that.
His ability to boost the president’s ego has become the blueprint for international leaders to deal with the second Maga term.
Without US leadership, there is a danger that the war will just go on and thousands of people trapped in Gaza will simply starve to death.
In many ways, Starmer will be speaking for the so-called E3 group of UK, France and Germany on the issue after the emergency phone call with Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday.
Israeli strikes kill 34 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday
Israeli strikes killed at least 34 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory.
The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution site run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site.
Elsewhere, a woman who was seven months pregnant was killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the Muwasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis.
The woman’s fetus survived after a complex surgery, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
One strike hit a two-story house in the western Japanese neighborhood of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties.
The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those strikes.
How will the Israeli ‘humanitarian pause’ work?
Israe,l has announced daily pauses in military activity in certain areas of the Gaza strip, a move it says will allow more aid flow into the ravaged enclave.
The pauses will take place in three designated areas of Gaza: Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City.
It will be in place from from 10am (8am BST) to 8 pm (6pm BST) until further notice, the military said. Designated secure routes will also be in place permanently from 6am until 11pm, it added.
Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.
The UN says the only way to address the crisis is to allow the unhindered delivery of all aid which humanitarian agencies have waiting at the border of Gaza.
Watch: Bob Geldof accuses Israel of ‘lying over’ Gaza starvation
14 die of starvation over past 24 hours, says Gaza health ministry
Fourteen Palestinians have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Monday.
They include two children. This means 88 children have died due to causes related to hunger in Gaza, authorities say.
The ministry said 59 Palestinian adults also have died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since the start of July, when it began counting deaths among adults.
The total number is at 147 people.
UN aid chief: Next days are ‘make or break’ for Palestinians in Gaza
The UN’s aid chief Tom Fletcher has said the days ahead are “make or break”, after Israel said it would pause its military offensive in parts of Gaza for 10 hours each day.
From 10am to 8pm, Israel said it would halt operations in Al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City, to allow increased aid flow. Complete and partial aid blockades in recent months caused fatal levels of starvation to tear through the enclave.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian and air chief, told the BBC that the halt in action in three areas of Gaza may only last “a week or so” – but that the UN needs “weeks, months to build up supplies again”.
The agency has the capacity to reach every person in Gaza, he said, but only if given enough time.
More than 100 Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to Palestinian health officials in the enclave, with aid groups warning of mass hunger.
Trump: Israel will ‘have to make a decision’ on Gaza
Donald Trump said on Sunday that Israel would have to make a decision on next steps in Gaza, adding he did not know what would happen after the collapse of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.
“They don’t want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision,” Mr Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland.
“I know what I’d do, but I don’t think it’s appropriate that I say it. But Israel is going to have to make a decision,” he said, while also claiming, without evidence, that Hamas was stealing food coming into Gaza and selling it.
The US president added that Washington would provide more aid to the Palestinian enclave devastated by US ally Israel’s military assault.
Israeli forces kill 63 Palestinians in Gaza within hours of ‘humanitarian pause’, health officials say
The military said on Sunday it would suspend operations daily from 10am until 8pm in parts of central and northern Gaza, including al-Mawasi, Deir el-Balah and Gaza City, and promised to open aid corridors from 6am to 11pm to let in food and medical supplies.
However, within hours of the so-called “humanitarian pause” taking effect, Israeli forces resumed air raids. One reported strike targeted a bakery in an area designated as a “safe zone”, according to Al Jazeera.
Maroosha Muzaffar reports:
