“Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza,” Obama wrote in a Sunday statement on X, formerly Twitter. “There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families.”
Israel announced this weekend that it would pause military operations for 10 hours a day in certain parts of Gaza to allow more aid drops beginning on Sunday. Israeli Brigadier General Effie Defrin also claimed Sunday that there’s no starvation in Gaza, while noting that conditions were “approaching a problematic line” this past weekend.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military did not immediately respond when asked for comment on Obama’s post.
In his statement, Obama linked to a New York Times story featuring accounts from physicians and civilians. One parent described frantically searching for milk for her toddler, while another spoke of how his child was suffering from malnutrition and was in intensive care. “Some arrive shivering from hunger,” Mohammad Saqr, head of the nursing department at Nasser Medical Complex, told the Times.
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The former president added that a lasting resolution in Gaza would require a “return of all hostages” and “a cessation of Israel’s military operations,” but noted that immediate action was vital to “prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation.”