Trump said he is focused on getting “people fed” in Gaza when asked about rumors that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has occupied the entire Palestinian territory on Tuesday.
“I really can’t say how the rest of it is,” she said. The US president told reporters that that will largely depend on Israel.
Washington annually provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, an amount that dramatically increased since Israel’s occupation of Gaza in October 2023.
Gaza’s 86 percent of the territory has been militarized because of forced displacement orders Israel has issued to force Palestinians into ever-shrinking pockets.
However, more military engagements in the area’s remaining areas would put Palestinians at risk even more, since they already endure daily bombardment and Israeli-imposed starvation.
Concerns are also raised by Netanyahu’s alleged plans to conquer Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian organizations regarding the safety of the remaining Israeli prisoners confined there.
A complete occupation of Gaza, according to Miroslav Jenca, a top UN official, “risks catastrophic consequences” on Tuesday.
“The scope of international law is clear. According to Jenca, Gaza will continue to be a key component of the upcoming Palestinian state.
In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces and colonies from the Palestinian territory, but legal experts claimed that the area remained technically under Israeli occupation because Gaza’s airspace, territorial waters, and ports of entry were still under Israeli control.
Right-wing Israeli officials have demanded that Israel’s military presence and settlements be reinstated in Gaza since the start of the conflict in 2023.
Trump himself echoed Netanyahu’s suggestion in February that Israel plans to remove all Palestinians from the region, which would be considered ethnic cleansing.
Trump at the time suggested removing its citizens from Gaza in order to build a “riviera of the Middle East” there.
In response to growing international outcry over the deadly hunger that is roiling the area, there have recently been reports about Israel’s plans to expand its ground operations in Gaza.
Since March, Israel has made Gaza almost exclusively a place where Palestinians can get food thanks to US-backed GHF sites.
Israel’s military has shot hundreds of Palestinians as they attempt to access GHF facilities close to Israel’s borders of control. Despite international pleas for the UN to give the aid, the US has remained committed to supporting the organization.
Israel has recently allowed some food trucks and airdrops to deliver aid to Gaza, but the aid is still far from meeting the population’s needs.
In northern Gaza, the Israeli military is also accused of attempting to drive aid trucks away from GHF sites.
Trump’s frequently repeated claim that the US has given Gaza $60 million was reiterated on Tuesday. His administration had given GHF $ 30 million.
According to him, “As you know, $60 million was recently provided by the United States to provide food for the people of Gaza, which are obviously not doing well with the food,” he told reporters.
“And I am aware that Israel will provide for that in terms of both money and distribution. In terms of the money and possible distribution, we also have the Arab states [who] are going to assist us in that].
Source: Aljazeera
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