Alexandra Sharp
Foreign Policy / July 28, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump often echoes Israeli talking points concerning Gaza, much to the frustration of European nations, which are becoming increasingly disillusioned with Israel’s war against Hamas. But on Monday, Trump appeared to break that pattern by publicly disputing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that mass starvation in Gaza is being overstated.
“We have to get the kids fed,” Trump said while meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, adding that based on images of starving Palestinians seen on TV, “those children look very hungry.”
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, more than 130 Palestinians have died from malnutrition, the majority being children and a significant portion of whom died within the last month, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1,000 others have also been killed by Israeli forces in recent weeks while trying to access food. “It’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s an absolute catastrophe,” Starmer said on Monday. “I think people in Britain are revolted at what they’re seeing on their screens.”
On Sunday, Israel announced 10-hour, temporary halts to military operations across parts of Gaza to allow Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to drop food and other humanitarian supplies into the territory. But rights groups have argued that aerial aid drops are no substitute for land crossings, which Israel is still largely blockading. And foreign powers have demanded that the United States take on a larger role to help address reports of mass hunger, which some former Israeli officials and Israel-based nonprofits have now suggested point to evidence of Israel committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Dozens of foreign ministers convened at the United Nations on Monday for a conference to discuss supporting a two-state solution and working toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. In his opening remarks, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres implored participants not to let the meeting be “another exercise in well-meaning rhetoric,” saying it “can and must serve as a decisive turning point—one that catalyses irreversible progress towards ending the occupation.” Already, France has vowed to recognize a Palestinian state beginning in September.
But with Israel and the United States boycotting Monday’s event—which was postponed in June after Israel launched attacks on Iran—experts worry that tangible progress still appears far off. Instead, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot stressed that Monday’s discussion was aimed at providing a “political horizon” for future peace talks, with attendees acknowledging that a two-state solution likely won’t occur amid an ongoing war in Gaza and under Israel’s current leadership, which rejects the creation of an independent Palestine.
Although the Israel-Hamas war proved to be the top agenda item during Trump-Starmer talks on Monday, the two leaders also hashed out some trade concerns. Namely, Trump and Starmer expressed interest in resuming negotiations to address U.S. tariffs on British steel and aluminium, which remain at 25 percent despite the U.S.-U.K. trade framework agreed to in May. Trump on Monday warned that he will impose a new tariff between 15 to 20 percent, starting Friday, on countries that have not yet struck a deal with Washington; he did not say which nations this will affect, instead describing the tariffs as “for the world.”
Trump and Starmer also expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being the impetus for a lack of cease-fire progress with Ukraine. In an effort to force Putin to the negotiating table, Trump on Monday shortened his 50-day deadline for Moscow, saying Russia now has 10 or 12 days instead of until early September to make peace with Kyiv or face a new round of sanctions.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy
