The “worst-case scenario of famine” is playing out in Gaza, the global hunger monitor has warned. Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer has called an emergency meeting to discuss getting aid into the enclave. Watch below as Donald Trump appears in Scotland after his comments on Gaza “starvation”.
Tuesday 29 July 2025 11:01, UK
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Donald Trump has said when he returns state-side he would be putting “out fires all over the world.”
He also told a reporter he would get Gaza “straightened out”.
Speaking ahead of opening his new golf course in Scotland, on the last day of his trip, he said: “I look forward to playing [on the new course] today.
“We’ll play it very quickly and then I go back to DC and we put out fires all over the world.”
He added: “You know, we stopped the war, but we just have about five wars. So that’s much more important than playing golf. As much as I like, it’s much more important.”
The comments were made seemingly in reference to Gaza.
When asked at the end by a reporter about the Middle East, Trump said he’d get it “straightened out”.
The US president spoke yesterday about the fighting in the enclave when answering questions with Sir Keir Starmer.
At the time, he contradicted Benjamin Netanyahu over starvation in the enclave.
Watch yesterday’s comments below:
Here are some of the latest pictures from the Middle East.
Just outside northern Gaza, Israeli soldiers worked on their tanks and armoured vehicles at a staging post.
Other soldiers drove an armoured personnel carrier inside the enclave.
In the distance, destruction and levelled buildings could be seen in Gaza.
A UN summit is underway in New York, with attendees trying to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is due to speak later at the event.
The two-state solution has long been hoped for as a way to bring about peace in the region.
It would see an independent Palestinian state established alongside the existing Israeli one.
This would give both people their own territory but has been rejected by Israel – see our 9.49 post for their latest on it.
Where to draw the border?
The biggest obstacle to a two-state solution is deciding what the borders of a potential Palestinian state would be.
Many believe they should be the same ones that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, which saw Israel occupy East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Since then, increasing numbers of Israeli settlements have been established inside the West Bank, with around 600,000 Israelis now living there and in Occupied East Jerusalem.
Although these settlements are considered illegal under international law, their existence makes the territory increasingly difficult to designate as Palestinian.
The creation of Israel and the subsequent Arab-Israeli war of 1948 saw many Palestinians forced from their homes, in what is known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in English.
As such, the UN gave around 750,000 people refugee status, defined as people “whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”.
But under the same criteria, 5.9 million Palestinians – who live in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and in camps across Jordan, Lebanon and Syria – now qualify, and many would want to return to their once homes.
The question is where these people would go within the occupied territories, and if others would have to give way for them.
Jerusalem
There are particular border difficulties with Jerusalem.
Both sides claim the ancient city as their capital.
This is because of its huge historical and religious significance for both Israelis and Palestinians and the fact that it is home to several holy sites in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
The Israeli government claims Jerusalem is its “undivided capital”, and it is the seat of the Israeli government and parliament (Knesset), but East Jerusalem is widely considered an occupied Palestinian territory.
In theory, a two-state solution would officially recognise both East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and a western part of the city for the Israelis.
Who supports it – and what has Israel said?
Previously, Israel’s endorsement was conditional on Palestinian groups like Hamas demilitarising.
However, in recent years it has moved away from the idea and now openly rejects it.
Earlier today, Gideon Sa’ar, the foreign minister, claimed it would lead to the creation of a “Palestinian terror state”.
Fatah and the governing Palestinian Authority in the West Bank support the solution, provided they are allowed to police themselves.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, has committed itself to the destruction of Israel.
However, in a revised charter published in 2017, it said it would accept a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
The lack of consensus on the Palestinian side makes the solution difficult – and the admission of Israeli officials that they are no longer committed to it is near impossible.
Hope for the two-state solution peaked in the early 1990s, when the US facilitated the signing of the Oslo Accords under the presidency of Bill Clinton.
Famously, then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands on the lawn of the White House.
Donald Trump is cutting the ribbon on a new golf course in Scotland this morning, scheduled for 10am.
The US leader has been in the country since landing on Friday.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Trump said he disagreed with Benjamin Netanyahu’s position that there is no starvation in Gaza.
“Those children look very hungry,” Trump said – watch that moment here…
Watch Trump open the golf course in the stream at the top of the page. We’ll bring you any relevant comments here too.
Israel has rejected the two-state solution to the conflict as a UN summit attended by dozens of countries discusses the topic in New York.
Speaking at a news conference, foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar appeared to take direct aim at the summit.
He claimed there was a “distorted campaign of international pressure against Israel” and described the two-state solution as leading to a “Palestinian terror state”.
“Establishing a Palestinian state today is establishing a Hamas state,” Sa’ar added.
Israel has not pursued a two-state solution in recent years, and their position has hardened since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
US-Israel relations
Donald Trump said yesterday that he disagreed with Benjamin Netanyahu’s position that there is no starvation in Gaza. Sa’ar was asked about the comments and tried to emphasise the closeness of the two nations.
“With the regards to the situation in Gaza, first of all I would after almost two years of war, the situation is tough,” he said.
“But there is a lie, the lie is the starvation policies that the international media is cooperating with.”
He added that international pressure wouldn’t sway Israel.
Famine thresholds have been reached in most of Gaza, a UN-backed body has warned.
The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza”, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, has said.
It warned that “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” were driving deaths.
The IPC is an initiative combining charities, governments, UN agencies and NGOs to determine the severity of food insecurity worldwide.
It said that the latest data indicated famine thresholds had been reached for food consumption in most of the enclave.
But it stopped short of a formal famine declaration.
In Gaza City, the thresholds for acute malnutrition had been reached.
“Amid relentless conflict, frequent displacements, extremely limited humanitarian access, and collapsing health care systems, the worst-case scenario is rapidly unfolding in Gaza,” the IPC said.
GHF criticism
The IPC also said that, according to its analysis of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) food packages, “their distribution plan would lead to mass starvation.”
It further criticised the organisation, saying that most of the food it distributed was “not ready-to-eat and requires water and fuel to cook, which are largely unavailable”.
It added that “reaching these distribution points requires long, high-risk journeys.”
By Kate Schneider, data journalist
Israel’s control over aid delivery is facing increased scrutiny, with global NGOs, the UN and even Donald Trump acknowledging starvation in Gaza.
Due to a lack of aid deliveries, its population is threatened by a “critical risk of famine”, according to the UN-endorsed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
Vulnerable groups in particular are acutely impacted – a vast majority of Gazan children now face extreme food deprivation, says the IPC.
While distribution of food remains the centre of attention, new analysis from the Sky News Data & Forensics unit shows deliveries of other key supplies have fallen even more dramatically than food.
Experts say this will exacerbate starvation levels in the region.
Struggle for fuel
During the first two months of 2025, an average of 121 truckloads worth of fuel and gas were entering the region.
Since an 11-week aid blockade instituted by Israel ended in late May, the region has only seen an average of 2.5 truckloads per week.
Stuart Gordon, a professor specialising in humanitarian emergencies at the London School of Economics, said: “The lack of fuel and gas in Gaza severely restricts all forms of transportation and essential services, profoundly affecting the population’s daily life.”
Gordon explained that the lack of fuel limits the ability of Gazans to leave evacuation zones when ordered by the Israeli military, as well as travel to aid distribution or medical centres.
Cooking dangers
Without fuel, civilians will also struggle to cook what food is available or may turn towards dangerous fuel sources like burning plastics or debris, which release toxic fumes, Gordon added.
He shared data from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation showing more than half of the calories within a typical food package distributed in recent months come from dried foods needing to be cooked with water.
This includes pasta, flour, and lentils.
As increasing numbers of Gazans suffer starvation, they’re also less likely to be able to access much-needed medical care.
Deliveries of essential medical supplies and equipment have dropped compared to earlier this year, when 117 truckloads were being delivered on average per week.
‘Miniscule’ volume
Post-blockade, only about nine trucks’ worth of medical aid have entered Gaza each week.
“Hospitals are running critically low on trauma supplies, essential medicines, and basic equipment – they are not well-stocked,” Gordon said.
He added: “There are frequent reports of zero-stock levels for essential items like gauze, IV fluids, and antibiotics.
“Even when aid convoys are allowed entry, the volume is often minuscule compared to the overwhelming needs, and restrictions.”
Additional reporting by Ben van der Merwe
One Palestinian has warned that the selling of aid in Gaza is a “huge business”.
During Israel’s war with Hamas, Gaza has suffered a breakdown of security that has made it difficult to safely deliver food to starving Palestinians.
Some of the limited aid entering is being hoarded and sold on at exorbitant prices, the AP news agency reports.
A kilogram of flour has cost as much as £45 recently, with a kilogram of lentils up to £26.
Mohammed Abu Taha, who lives in a tent with his wife and child near Rafah, said gangs of young men were always at the front of crowds when he visited aid sites.
“It’s a huge business,” he said.
Israel’s decision over the weekend to allow more aid deliveries under international pressure has lowered prices somewhat.
Some bags of flour in markets bear UN logos, while others carry markings from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, it was reported.
Aid airdrops are “not the solution” for starvation in Gaza, Sky News has been told.
Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, told Sky News that aid airdrops were insufficient for Gaza’s needs.
Speaking to Breakfast presenter Wilfred Frost from the West Bank, she said: “Airdrops are not the solution for starvation and a humanitarian catastrophe.”
She added: “Airdrops are inefficient, insufficient and inadequate for distributing aid for the people. It is risky, it endangers their life and groups like children and the elderly cannot access it.
“The solution is clear… land crossings and aid trucks are the only way.”
Watch the full interview below…
Sky News has travelled on board one of the planes heading for Gaza, to airdrop in aid.
Correspondent Sally Lockwood boarded the aircraft in Zarqa, Jordan.
She said each plane carried around eight pallets of food aid, weighing around eight tonnes total.
“It’s far less than can be brought in by road, but it’s something,” she said.
Watch her full report below…
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