World leaders, aid groups react to humanitarian crisis, competing narratives in Gaza

2. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland on Sunday. At a joint press conference alongside the European leader, he was asked if Israel “should be doing more to allow food into Gaza.”

Trump responded by declaring, “We gave $60 million two weeks ago,” while lamenting that “no other country gave anything.” 

While the U.S. State Department announced in late June that it had provided $30 million in aid to Israel, it remains unclear what payments Trump was referring to when he cited the $60 million figure. 

The president vowed that “the US is going to do more aid for Gaza.”

“We’d like to have other countries participate,” he added, echoing Netanyahu, who asserted that “a lot of that food is getting stolen by Hamas.” 

“They’re stealing the food. They’re stealing a lot of things. You ship it in and they steal it. Then they sell it,” he added. 

The president also addressed what he described as a "terrible situation" in Gaza during a meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. There, he reiterated his focus on aid, adding that the U.S. would set up food centers “in conjunction with some very good people.” 

According to a June 19 editorial published by the Palestinian Authority’s daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, “Numerous reports out of Gaza say that Hamas is killing many civilians looking for a sack of flour on the pretext that they are collaborating with the American food distribution centers!! This is being revealed not only in reports but also in messages and [social media] posts by families whose relatives have been targeted by the treacherous Hamas.”

The editorial cited a statement by the sister of murdered civilian Osama Al-Mishal, who detailed how a group of Hamas militants had “obstructed a bus in which her brother and several young men were traveling to one of the food distribution centers.” 

The woman’s social media post outlined how Hamas militants shot her brother after taking them off the bus and shot them again as they arrived at the hospital, and prevented them from receiving treatment, and encouraged others to beat them with sticks and iron pipes.