WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday that he wouldn’t intrude with Israeli plans to occupy the whole thing of the Gaza Strip.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a safety session and reportedly got here out in favor of the IDF taking management of all the enclave, even when doing so endangers the lives of the remaining hostages held in areas not but conquered by the military.
Pressed by reporters on the White Home on whether or not he’d assist such a plan — which nonetheless must obtain last approval kind the Israeli cupboard later this week — Trump responded, “That’s just about going to be as much as Israel.”
The US president mentioned his main focus is on feeding Gazans “who’re clearly not doing to effectively with the meals.”
Trump added that “Israel goes to assist us with that when it comes to distribution and in addition cash.”
He mentioned “Arab states are additionally going to assist us with that when it comes to cash and presumably distribution.”
Displaced Palestinians carry meals parcels and provides from a Gaza Humanitarian Basis help distribution level alongside the Netzarim Hall within the central Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)
Israel has reportedly already funneled thousands and thousands of {dollars} to the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Basis, although it has but to publicly affirm doing so, as such funding would possible be unpopular amongst components of Netanyahu’s right-wing base that opposes permitting help into Gaza, not to mention paying for it.
Already on July 28, as worldwide outcry over experiences of mounting starvation in Gaza peaked, Trump introduced the US would set up new “meals facilities” within the enclave, which might be run by Israel.
The announcement stunned many in Jerusalem, who thought the US would again the institution of extra distribution websites run by the GHF, relatively than create a brand new mechanism.
However on July 29, the White Home confirmed that Trump deliberate to do exactly that and could be asserting a brand new Gaza help plan, which has but to be rolled out.
On Friday, US particular envoy Steve Witkoff and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited a GHF website in southern Gaza. Huckabee hailed GHF’s work after the go to, in an indication that the US would stick with increasing the present mechanism.
However Witkoff prevented complementing GHF, merely tweeting that the aim of the go to was to report again to Trump on the humanitarian state of affairs with a view to craft a plan to ship extra meals to Gazans.
Axios reported on Tuesday that the US desires to considerably improve its position within the distribution of help, feeling Israel has bungled the difficulty up to now, although, the administration’s precise plan continues to be being crafted.
‘Stay centered on liberating the hostages’
US State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce was additionally requested Tuesday a few potential Israeli occupation of all the Strip, however declined to remark.
“We stay centered on liberating the hostages, together with the stays of two People, and making certain that Hamas by no means guidelines Gaza once more,” Bruce mentioned throughout a State Division briefing, highlighting the latest movies of emaciated Israeli hostages launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“What we noticed was an astoundingly evil reminder of who they’re… For them to really feel comfy placing on full show their barbarity and their inhumanity, tells you that they appear to really feel fairly comfy in the mean time,” she added.
Trump was requested later Tuesday whether or not he had Hamas’s “horrible” video of emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David being pressured to dig his personal grave within the tunnel the place he’s being held in Gaza.
“I believe it’s horrible,” Trump mentioned. “I hope lots of people do get to see it, as unhealthy as it’s, as a result of I believe it’s a horrible factor.”
A nonetheless of hostage Evyatar David taken from a Hamas propaganda video (left) launched on August 1, 2025. (Hostages and Lacking Households Discussion board)
Netanyahu is more and more satisfied that solely by coming into areas in central and northern Gaza that the IDF has prevented on account of worry of harming the hostages, will Israel have the ability to efficiently strain Hamas to launch the remaining captives.
The IDF’s management is against the technique, fearing it may lead Hamas to execute hostages if it senses the military closing in on its operatives.
The way during which the controversy has performed out loudly within the press has led to some hypothesis that speak of potential Israeli occupation is itself a technique aimed toward coaxing Hamas to return again to the negotiation desk to finalize a deal that will launch 28 of the remaining 50 hostages.
Talks had been progressing over the course of final month earlier than falling aside on the July 24, when the US and Israel pulled their negotiating groups from Doha over frustration with Hamas’s response to the most recent truce proposal.
Arab mediators have instructed The Instances of Israel that the gaps are nonetheless bridgeable, however Netanyahu’s workplace has briefed reporters that he now prefers a complete deal to launch the entire hostages in trade for an finish to the battle.
Hamas has lengthy most well-liked this framework, however Netanyahu can also be demanding that the Islamist terror group quit its weapons and depart the Strip, that are non-starters for Hamas.
Furthermore, he believes that army strain can be utilized to safe the discharge of the remaining hostages, an strategy that’s liable to rising skepticism because the battle enters its twenty second month, and as Israel has but to articulate a transparent exit technique and plan for who will run the Strip after the battle.
In the meantime, help teams have been alarmed by the potential for widespread famine in Gaza after Israel blockaded the Strip for 78 days. Whereas help has tricked in for the reason that finish of Could, humanitarian organizations say it has been woefully inadequate.
A lot of it has been by GHF, which help organizations and far of the worldwide neighborhood opposes, because it requires Gazans to stroll lengthy distances with a view to choose up a field of dry meals merchandise that must be ready elsewhere within the Strip the place cooking gas and gear is scarce.
Whereas the mechanism was established to attempt to field Hamas out of the help course of, desperation of hungry Gazans has led to chaotic scenes at GHF websites the place hundreds of individuals burst by the entrances every day to seize containers of meals as rapidly as potential.
There isn’t a registration course of to make sure that Hamas operatives will not be amongst these benefiting from the help, and stronger segments of the inhabitants in a position to climate the troublesome trek to the distribution websites are the first beneficiaries on the expense of extra susceptible Palestinians most in want of help.
What has most dominated headlines for the reason that rollout of GHF have been the repeated shootings of these making an attempt to achieve their help websites. The UN says 766 folks have been killed in these shootings. Whereas the IDF has been blamed, it insists figures have been inflated, that it solely fires warning pictures at those that pose a menace and that Hamas operatives and different gunmen are additionally opening hearth at help seekers from inside the crowd.
Palestinians trip on a truck loaded with meals and humanitarian help because it strikes alongside the Morag hall close to Rafah, within the southern Gaza Strip, August 4, 2025. (AP/ Mariam Dagga)
Scenes round UN convoys haven’t been a lot better, with the UN acknowledging that it has been unable to ship the overwhelming majority of its help to warehouses and distribution facilities all through the Strip on account of looting by mobs of hungry Gazans who’re too not sure about the place their subsequent meal might be to permit the vans to go with out overtaking them.
Over the previous two weeks, these making an attempt to pounce on these convoys have come below IDF hearth, with the UN reporting twice as many shootings in these eventualities as those focusing on Gazans making an attempt to achieve GHF websites.
Israel additionally accuses Hamas of diverting and profiting off of a lot of the help that enters the Strip.
For its half, Israel faults the UN for the breakdown in help distribution, arguing that the UN has failed in its mandate, and solely agrees to accentuate its efforts after Jerusalem calls it out. The UN, in flip, insists that Israeli restrictions and the battle’s situations make a sustainable humanitarian operation all however not possible.
