U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Newsmax Tuesday that the United Nations has not distributed lifesaving food supplies in Gaza, attributing the situation to actions by Hamas and responding to international criticism of Israel.
Huckabee told "The Record With Great Van Susteren" that the United Nations has failed to deliver critical food aid to Gaza, allowing supplies to "rot" as Palestinian civilians go hungry.
"The U.N., unfortunately, wouldn't help," Huckabee said. "They had 900 trucks full of food, sitting undelivered, sitting in the sun, rotting."
Huckabee said thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid that could have sustained the population for two years remain unused due to what he called inaction by the United Nations and interference by Hamas militants.
"The problem has been that the U.N. has been sitting on its hands, rather than using its hands to pass out the food," Huckabee said.
His remarks come amid a growing international outcry over hunger in Gaza, where the U.N.'s World Food Program reports that one-third of the population, nearly 700,000 people, are enduring "famine-like conditions." The World Health Organization reported 63 malnutrition-related deaths in July alone, including 25 children.
President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed plans on Monday to boost food aid to Gaza. Speaking from Scotland, Trump appeared to contradict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who claimed there is "no starvation in Gaza."
"I don't know," Trump told reporters when asked whether he agreed with Netanyahu's assessment, according to NPR. "Based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry. But we're giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up."
Huckabee rejected the notion that Israel is to blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"What I will tell you is the reason those problems exist is not because Israel is being unkind and unfair," he said. "It's because Hamas has made life a hellhole for the people who are trying to live there."
According to Huckabee, Hamas steals aid shipments and resells them.
"They won't let them leave. They won't let them get food. They steal the food that the U.N. sends, and then they sell it to the people," he said.
"So part of the hunger is because Hamas steals the food, hoards it, and then tries to sell it. That's the story that isn't getting told."
The ambassador also questioned the accuracy of viral photos depicting hunger in Gaza, claiming some images were outdated or misleading.
"One of them, for example, was from 2017. It was from a child who had a birth defect. It was not hunger that was current," Huckabee said.
Despite acknowledging that "there's some serious, serious humanitarian problems in Gaza," Huckabee said the global narrative is twisted.
"European countries are putting the pressure on Israel, and they need to be putting the pressure on the evil of Hamas."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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