A report by a panel of food security experts that found there was famine in parts of Gaza prompted outrage from many European countries, but not from the United States — Israel’s main backer — and the Trump administration.
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel’s arguments against the report in posts on social media, saying that Hamas was to blame for any hunger in Gaza.
“Tons of food has gone into Gaza but Hamas savages stole it, ate lots of it to become corpulent,” Mr. Huckabee wrote on X.
Without pressure from the United States, Mr. Netanyahu is unlikely to shift his conduct in the nearly two-year war in Gaza, analysts say. President Trump has yet to comment on the report, which was released Friday, although he suggested last month that there was starvation in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu is “clearly more comfortable with the fact that Donald Trump is not going to impose costs or consequences that would constitute real pressure,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat who joined negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians during the 1990s.
After months of warnings, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a panel of food security experts backed by the United Nations, said Friday that it had found that Gaza City and its surrounding areas were suffering from famine. The group blamed a number of factors for the dire situation, including stringent Israeli restrictions on aid and warned that, by September, central and southern Gaza also could face famine.
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The post After Gaza Famine Report, U.S. Is Mostly Silent and Israel Defiant appeared first on New York Times.
