Trump says Israel will ‘preside over' US aid distribution in Gaza
Speaking to reporters onboard his presidential jet on Tuesday, Trump stressed the Israeli talking point that Hamas steals food assistance distributed in Gaza — a claim that has been denied by aid groups and United Nations officials.
Even Israeli officials have anonymously told news outlets like The New York Times that there is no evidence food is being diverted to Hamas. Still, Trump suggested otherwise.
'A lot of things have been stolen. They send money. They send food. And Hamas steals it,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One. 'So it's a tricky little game.'
He added that he trusted Israel to handle the distribution of US aid, in spite of chaotic operations that have resulted in Israeli troops firing on hungry Palestinians.
'We're going to be dealing with Israel. And we think they can do a good job of it,' Trump said. 'They want to preside over the food centres to make sure the distribution is proper.'
It is not clear where and when the sites would be set up, and whether Israel would run them directly or through the GHF, a controversial US-backed aid foundation accused of unsafe practices.
Trump's comments suggest that the US is not ready to support the resumption of aid distribution in Gaza through the UN and its partners on the ground.
Israel has tightened its blockade in Gaza since May, allowing food into the territory almost exclusively through GHF, which has four sites set up in the south of the enclave.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire while attempting to reach or leave GHF centres.
The siege has sparked an Israeli-imposed hunger crisis in the territory, and dozens of people have died of malnutrition.
Whistleblowers from the Israeli military and GHF have shared testimonies detailing the abuses committed at the foundation's sites in recent weeks.
Anthony Aguilar, a US army veteran who worked with GHF, said that the group has failed to adequately deliver food in Gaza.
Nevertheless, he said, it has served as a vehicle for displacement, forcing Palestinians to the south of the territory.
'What I saw on numerous occasions are the Israeli [military] firing into the crowds of the Palestinians, firing over their head, firing at their feet … not just with rifles or machine guns, but tanks, tank rounds, artillery, mortars, missiles,' Aguilar told Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen in an interview posted on social media.
He stressed that the aid seekers were targeted 'not because they were combatants or because they were hostile or because they were Hamas but simply as a means to control the crowd'.
As starvation worsens by the day in Gaza, the Netanyahu govt has been using food as a weapon of war — with complicity from Trump & U.S. taxpayer dollars.
This is painful to listen to but here's what a U.S. Army veteran & Green Beret who witnessed it first-hand recounted to me: pic.twitter.com/K6LNxN5P4Q
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) July 29, 2025
Critics say that putting Israeli troops in charge of food distribution sites risks further atrocities against aid seekers.
Israel has maintained that there is no actual hunger in Gaza, dismissing the well-documented spread of starvation in the territory as Hamas propaganda.
On Monday, Trump acknowledged that there is 'real starvation' in the territory, but he stopped short of criticising Israel.
Instead, on Tuesday, he stressed that Israel should be the side delivering the aid.
'I think Israel wants to do it, and they'll be good at doing it,' Trump told reporters.
'If they do it — and if they really want to do it, and I think they do — they'll do a good job. The food will be properly distributed.'
He also likened any pressure on Israel to a 'reward' for Hamas.
'If you do that, you really are rewarding Hamas, and I'm not about to do that,' he told a reporter who asked about the possibility of the US pushing Israel towards a long-term solution to end the conflict.
Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on the basis of alleged war crimes, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
UN-backed food security experts announced on Tuesday that the 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza'.
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