Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his government's key objectives in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip: destroying the militant group and securing the return of all hostages held in Gaza.

Finally, the images of Palestinians starving to death and children showing the telltale signs of malnutrition became unbearable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making an end run around his own hard-line cabinet ministers on the Sabbath, relented and allowed an influx of desperately needed food and other supplies to flow into Gaza.

Izzat al-Rishq, a top Hamas official, said Trump's remarks "blatantly echo" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's "narrative and lies," in an Arabic statement released on Monday on Telegram. The Israeli leader previously dismissed claims that his government had been pursuing a policy of starvation in Gaza.

Netanyahu is highly protective of the process and beholden to ultranationalists in his cabinet who equate any deal with Hamas with shameful surrender, and he has trumpeted Hamas’ defeat so many times that any walk-back from this position will have political repercussions for him.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with Hamas after Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty.

President Trump said today that the U.S. would do more to help the starving population in Gaza. After a meeting in Scotland with Britain’s prime minister, the president criticized the aid distribution effort his administration has backed in Gaza and said he wanted to create more easily accessible food sites.