Obama says there’s ‘no justification’ for starvation in Gaza, calls for aid distribution

The former U.S. president also called for a “lasting resolution” to the “crisis” in Gaza that includes the return of all hostages and a “cessation” of Israel’s military operations.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the increasing starvation of Palestinians in Gaza amid concerns of famine, as Israel continues to decimate the Middle Eastern territory as part of its nearly two-year military operation.

“Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,” wrote America’s first Black president in a post on X.

Obama shared news articles about the growing starvation in Gaza, adding that they “underscore the immediate need for action to be taken to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation.”

The former U.S. president also called for a “lasting resolution” to the “crisis” in Gaza that includes the return of all hostages and a “cessation” of Israel’s military operations.

Obama’s public statement comes after the United Nations’ World Food Program said last week that the hunger crisis in Gaza reached “new and astonishing levels of desperation.” A third of Gaza’s two million population is not eating for “multiple days in a row,” the international organization said.

“Only a massive scale-up in food aid can stabilize the hunger catastrophe engulfing Gaza,” said the World Food Program.

The starvation in Gaza is especially impacting Gaza’s most vulnerable: the young, old and sick. Videos and images of emaciated infants and children have permeated the TV news and the internet.

It’s not famine. It’s forced starvation.

Mass starvation stalks Gaza as deaths from hunger rise. pic.twitter.com/zllQd0cxo8— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) July 27, 2025

However, when it comes to addressing the obvious crisis, Israel has placed blame on Hamas. According to The New York Times, Israel claims Hamas is “engineering a narrative of starvation” by looting aid trucks and “disrupting” the distribution of aid to Gazans.

The Times added, “It also accuses the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations of failing to collect hundreds of truckloads of aid that have piled up on the Gaza side of the border crossings.” But aid groups blame Israel for restricting supplies and failing to provide safe routes for them to distribute aid and food inside Gaza.

Video and reporting have shown the Israeli military firing at crowds of Gazans as they attempted to retrieve aid. CNN reported that at least 73 people were killed by gunfire.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported more than 40 hunger-related deaths in July, including 16 children, and 111 people (81 of whom were children) since the start of Israel’s military campaign, reports the Times.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who disputed that there was starvation occurring in Gaza. Trump said, based on what he’s seen on television, “Those children look very hungry.” Trump added, “There is real starvation in Gaza – you can’t fake that.”

Trump has repeatedly said he would like to see the violence in Gaza come to an end. The White House has been working with allied countries in the region to negotiate another ceasefire after a previous truce negotiated by former President Joe Biden was ended in March. Trump pulled back from negotiations out of frustration and told Israel to “finish the job” against Hamas, whom the president said “want to die.”

However, on Monday, Trump called the crisis in Gaza “a mess” and stressed that civilians “have to get food and safety right now.”

Over the week, an international group of activists, including U.S. union activist Chris Smalls, traveled on the ship, Handala, to deliver aid, including baby food, toys, and medicine, to Gazans. However, the ship was intercepted by the Israeli military, which took the activists into custody. The group of activists argued they were in international waters and therefore had a legal right to travel by sea.

Israeli officials, who shared that the activists were safe upon taking them in custody, said, “Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.”