Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump held a heated phone call in late July over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which devolved into shouting, NBC News reported Friday, citing current and former American officials and a Western source familiar with the exchange.
The July 28 conversation, described by one U.S. official as “a direct, mostly one-way conversation” with Trump doing much of the talking, reportedly descended into shouting over concerns in the White House about the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and reports of high civilian casualties near aid distribution centers.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump
(Photo: Jack GUEZ / AFP, REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein, GPO)
The dispute came a day after Netanyahu publicly declared there was “no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza.” Speaking the next day during a visit to Scotland, Trump contradicted him, saying 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.”
Netanyahu then requested an urgent call with Trump, during which he argued that the reports of hunger were fabricated Hamas propaganda. According to NBC, Trump cut him off, shouting that he would not accept that explanation and insisting his staff had shown him proof that children in Gaza were indeed starving.
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The official told NBC that the United States feels “The U.S. not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it” due to its role in the GHF. The tense exchange prompted the White House to dispatch Steve Witkoff, its special envoy to the Middle East, to the region in an effort to reach a consensus on the next steps in the war.
During his visit, Witkoff toured a GHF distribution center with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and asked Israeli officials whether current relief efforts were sufficient or needed expansion. Israeli officials said they used the meeting to explain operational challenges and their belief that some international actors want the relief fund to fail.
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US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tour a US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center in Gaza
(Photo: from X)
After the visit, U.S. officials announced plans to expand food distribution points in Gaza from four to 16. On Tuesday, when asked whether he supported an Israeli military takeover of Gaza, Trump declined to rule it out, responding, “That’s pretty much going to be up to Israel.” Instead, he stressed his focus was on ensuring civilians received food.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC News: “We do not comment on the President’s private conversations. President Trump is focused on returning all the hostages and getting the people in Gaza fed.”
The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed the report as “complete fake news.”