“President Donald Trump said on Monday many people were starving in Gaza and suggested Israel could do more on humanitarian access, as Palestinians struggled to feed their children a day after Israel declared steps to improve supplies… Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved. ‘You have a lot of starving people,’ he said…

“Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses to fighting in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday… U.N. agencies said a long-term and steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched - short of target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said.” Reuters

“The Israeli military never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations, the biggest supplier of emergency assistance to Gaza for most of the war, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved in the matter…

“Hamas did steal from some of the smaller organizations that donated aid, as those groups were not always on the ground to oversee distribution, according to the senior Israeli officials and others involved in the matter. But, they say, there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid…

“In a statement, the military said that it has been ‘well documented’ that Hamas has routinely ‘exploited humanitarian aid to fund terrorist activities.’ But the military did not dispute the assessment that there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole aid from the United Nations.” New York Times

Here’s our recent Weekly Spotlight on aid for Gaza. The Flip Side

Many on both sides urge Israel to facilitate additional aid into Gaza immediately:

“The GHF system is like standing at the edge of a big pond and feeding the fish by throwing breadcrumbs. Who gets to eat its rations? Starvation strikes the vulnerable minority… Over the decades, humanitarian programmes have worked out how best to target the poorest, such as women without their husbands, looking after several children and perhaps elderly parents as well. It’s the last mile of aid delivery that counts…

“The GHF runs four ration stations… They’re all in military zones. They open for short periods and short notice. To get these rations, people must camp out in the rubble – ready to rush to the gates at a moment’s notice, and running the gauntlet of the Israel Defense Forces’ military posts… Theirs isn’t a formula for feeding the poorest. It’s the law of the jungle.”
Alex de Waal, The Guardian

“The Israeli government has claimed that Hamas is stealing the food in Gaza… [Yet] Before Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, which started in March, our convoys experienced very little violence or looting. After the blockade was lifted, the situation worsened significantly, with widespread looting and anarchy. It is rare now for trucks entering Gaza to make it safely to our kitchens or those of other aid groups without being looted…

“The blockade that was supposed to pressure what’s left of Hamas only strengthened these gunmen and gangs. It precipitated mass deprivation and the collapse of society in Gaza… We are far beyond the blame game of who is the more guilty party. We don’t have the time to argue about who is holding up the food trucks… As the occupying force, the Israelis are responsible for the basic survival of civilians in Gaza. Some people may find this unfair, but it is international law.”
José Andrés, New York Times

“The food shortage in northern Gaza really is dire this time, which spells opportunity for Hamas. Not to accept a cease-fire that would ease the distribution of aid, but to reject one and blame Israel… It’s notable that shutting down the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the new U.S.- and Israel-backed aid group, was the no. 2 item on Hamas’s list of demands in cease-fire negotiations on Thursday…

“Instead of working with the GHF to make its sites safer for Gazans to access, the U.N. and other aid groups want it gone. Were the pressure to shut down the GHF to succeed, a U.S. official adds, ‘say goodbye to the hostages.’ Hamas will have all the aid and control it needs and won’t make a deal… Israel is running out of time to ensure more aid gets through to Gazans. Blaming the U.N., though fair, doesn’t suffice.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal

“One can have a righteous cause, one’s foe can be wicked and brutal and primarily responsible for the conflict’s toll, and still — under any coherent theory of just war — there is an obligation to refrain from certain tactics if they create too much collateral damage, to mitigate certain predictable forms of civilian suffering and to have a strategy that makes the war’s outcome worth the cost…

“Israel has made a strategic choice, trying to separate food distribution from a system that it argues Hamas was exploiting for its own purposes. But if your strategic choice leads to children dying of starvation when the food is available to feed them, then a civilized nation has to make a different choice — even if that makes things easier for its enemies to some degree.”
Ross Douthat, New York Times

Other opinions below.