Trump Interrupts And Yells At Netanyahu Over Starvation In Gaza

In a telephonic call between the two leaders, US President Donald Trump reportedly “yelled” at the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting a growing frustration as the US President fails to demonstrate his ability to broker peace.

Trump yelled at Netanyahu when the latter tried to convince the US leader that reports of widespread starvation in Gaza were not real, and were rather Hamas propaganda, reported NBC News.

According to the American news channel, NBC, according to a senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials, and a Western official briefed on the situation, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump had a private phone call on July 28 that turned into yelling due to White House concerns about the operation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a relief effort supported by the United States and Israel.

The root of the tension between the two leaders is the hunger crisis in Gaza. 

On July 27, while appearing at an event in Jerusalem that day, Netanyahu maintained Israel’s denial of starvation in Gaza and stated,  “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza.”

The following day, in response, Trump told reporters that he had seen images of children in Gaza who “look very hungry,” that there is “real starvation” there and that “you can’t fake that.”

Reportedly, Netanyahu then privately demanded a phone call with Trump, the senior U.S. official and the former U.S. official claimed. The two leaders were connected within hours, those officials said to NBC. 

According to the senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials, and the Western official who was briefed on the discussion, Netanyahu told Trump over the phone that the widespread famine in Gaza was a fabrication by Hamas and was not true.  They claimed that Trump yelled at Netanyahu after interrupting him, claiming that his advisers had provided him with evidence showing that children there were starving and that he did not want to hear that the starvation was a hoax.

One of the former U.S. officials briefed on the call described it as “a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid” in which Trump “was doing most of the talking.”

White House officials and Israeli officials are yet to release a statement on this heated interaction.