John Oliver Urges End To U.S. Complicity In Israel's Blockade: 'Gaza Is Being Starved By Israel'
The late-night host singled out Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for claiming there is 'no starvation' crisis in Gaza despite all evidence to the contrary, saying the leader was doing so with the 'skill of a sh—y magician.'
More from Deadline
Trump Goes Looney Over "Sleazebag" Charlamagne Tha God's Epstein & GOP Coup Remarks On Fox News
Senate Confirms Jeanine Pirro To Serve As U.S. Attorney For D.C.
50 Cent Gloats As Trump Nixes Pardon For "Half-Innocent" Diddy, For Now
Of note, Oliver added, was that president Donald Trump also recently questioned Netanyahu's claims.
'Describing starving children as looking 'very hungry' is a massive understatement, right up there with: 'We were just friends,'' Oliver remarked, flashing an image of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein onscreen, adding that it was a 'rare moment of Trump expressing something resembling empathy.'
Zeroing in on some figureheads who 'pounced on' a New York Times report that added an addendum about a starving child's pre-existing health conditions, Oliver slammed media personality Megyn Kelly, who denied the legitimacy of the images coming out of Gaza.
'I kind of hoped we were done with Megyn Kelly as a society,' he began to audience whoops, 'and collectively, you actually don't have to litigate this case one photo at a time,' he said, citing reports from the United Nations, numerous aid organizations and Israeli human rights groups, including conclusions reached by Israel's oldest daily newspaper and multiple first-hand accounts.
'What's happening in Gaza right now is a famine. All the information we have points to that, except for this f—ing guy [Netanyahu] and a few adult junior detectives squinting at each photo of a skeletal child to figure out if they're the right kind of dying,' Oliver stated.
Referring to a 2024 CNN article in which Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said 'it may be just and moral' to starve 2 million Gazans, but 'no one in the world would let us,' Oliver concluded that the official is 'basically complaining that the world is c—blocking him from committing genocide better. And that is the argument for sustained international pressure here, and that country best positioned to apply it is this one [the U.S.], the one that gave Israel nearly $18 billion in military aid during the first year of this war alone. Look, 'Gaza is starving,' is a sentence that's objectively true, but it's also slightly misleading because it's too passive. Gaza is being starved by Israel.'
According to leading humanitarian groups and experts — such as the UN Special Committee, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and international law scholars — Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians. A May 2025 IPC analysis projected catastrophic levels of food insecurity for the entire population of Gaza by September, meaning at least half a million people are expected to be in IPC Phase 5 — the highest phase, known as catastrophe — which is marked by acute malnutrition and mortality.
Best of Deadline
2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
20 minutes ago
- CNN
Dems Depart Texas - CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
CNN This Morning 46 mins Texas Democrats leave the state to protest GOP's redistricting plan. The White House defends the firing of the jobs data czar. Montana police are on the hunt for a man involved in a deadly bar shooting. Outrage over a new hostage video as Israel faces mounting pressure to end the war. An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs writes a letter to the judge in his criminal trial. How AI is taking a wrecking ball to the job market.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians JERUSALEM (AP) — New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavsky writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families. The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months. 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement. Warnings of famine in Gaza The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory. Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine — access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas. 'When I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,' Netanyahu said on Sunday. 'They do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.' Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages 'like the Nazis starved the Jews.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages 'eat the same food as our fighters and the general public' and denied any intentional starvation of them. Israel's mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting. The videos were being used by Hamas 'to force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,' Sa'ar asserted. Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel's military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: 'all of them, without exception.' More starvation deaths The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire
APTOPIX Israel Palestinians JERUSALEM (AP) — New images of emaciated Israeli hostages held in Gaza have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the nearly 22-month war. The videos released late last week by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad show two skeletal hostages pleading for their lives. In one, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food. In the other, Rom Braslavsky writhes in agony on a dirty mattress and says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. The Associated Press does not normally publish videos of hostages filmed under duress, but is publishing brief excerpts after receiving consent from their families. The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets on Saturday night and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months. 'In this new video, his eyes are extinguished. He is helpless, and so am I,' Braslavski's mother, Tami, said in a statement. Warnings of famine in Gaza The videos were released as warnings about famine among Palestinians are growing in Gaza. Images of starving Palestinians have drawn international condemnation of Israeli policies limiting aid deliveries into the territory. Families of the hostages fear that the lack of food threatens the remaining hostages, too. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked by the images of the two hostages and met with the Red Cross to ask that it bring hostages food and medicine — access that the organization says it has never been granted by Hamas. 'When I see these, I understand exactly what Hamas wants,' Netanyahu said on Sunday. 'They do not want a deal. They want to break us using these videos of horror.' Netanyahu said the videos renewed his determination to release the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He added that the militant group is starving the hostages 'like the Nazis starved the Jews.' The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. It also asserted that the hostages 'eat the same food as our fighters and the general public' and denied any intentional starvation of them. Israel's mission to the U.N. said it requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he will travel to New York for the meeting. The videos were being used by Hamas 'to force upon us their conditions on remaining in power in Gaza,' Sa'ar asserted. Netanyahu on Monday said he will convene the Cabinet this week to instruct Israel's military on how to achieve the goals of defeating the enemy, releasing the hostages and assuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel: 'all of them, without exception.' More starvation deaths The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. The United Nations says at least 850 people have been killed attempting to access aid near chaotic and dangerous distribution sites set up by Israel and the United States in May. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. A total of 87 adults have died of malnutrition-related issues since the ministry started counting such deaths in late June, it said. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war in Gaza began, the ministry said. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war, and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead, is part of the Hamas government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
