July 28, 2025 - Gaza news updates

Palestinians await meals distributed by a charity in Gaza City, Gaza on Monday

President Donald Trump said the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza was “one of the main reasons” for his meeting today with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The two leaders acknowledged the “appalling” scenes in Gaza with Trump saying that the US will open “food centers” to help starving Palestinians.

On the ground in Gaza, 14 more people died in the last 24 hours as the starvation and malnutrition crisis continues to plague the enclave, according to the region’s health ministry. The UN’s aid chief warned the coming days will be “make or break” for humanitarian efforts in Gaza as aid slowly trickles amid the Israel’s military daily pause in operations.

If you’re just reading in now, here are the latest headlines:

US President Donald Trump claimed Iran had interjected in the most recent ceasefire negotiations by giving Hamas signals.

“Iran’s been sending out bad signals, I’ll tell you. For a country that just got wiped out, they’ve been sending very bad signals, very nasty signals. And they shouldn’t be doing that,” he said.

Trump pointed to what he said was the Iranian foreign minister’s appearance on a recent show. “They were talking about things that they shouldn’t be talking about,” he said.

“And I think they got involved in this negotiation, telling Hamas and giving Hamas signals and orders, and that’s not good. That’s not good.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump hold a bilateral meeting in Turnberry, Scotland on Monday.

United States President Donald Trump and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the “appalling scenes in Gaza” during their meeting in Scotland according to a statement from Starmer’s office.

They spoke about the need for aid to be allowed into Gaza “at scale and pace” and agreed to work together to help put an end to the hunger crisis and push for the release of the remaining hostages.

“They reiterated their calls for an immediate ceasefire to pave the way for peace in the region and the prime minister welcomed the president’s efforts to secure this, and shared the plans he is working on with other European leaders to bring about a lasting peace,” the Downing Street statement read.

Humanitarian aid supplies are airdropped by military cargo planes over the western part of Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Monday.

In the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda, scores of Palestinians rushed to collect boxes of aid that were dropped from the sky on Monday.

For many, the food in these boxes will be the only meal they eat today. But many say that having no choice but to chase after airdropped aid is an insult to their dignity.

Jordan and the United Arab Emirates carried out their first airdrops into Gaza over the weekend, attempting to combat starvation in the enclave caused by Israel’s blockade.

Fayyad said he did not collect any aid and did not want to, while dozens of others scrambled to reach the UAE Red Crescent-marked boxes. As a crowd of people picked up the boxes from the ground, gunshots rang out, causing many to panic and flee, CNN video showed.

One man said he managed to collect some flour, but that it would not be enough to feed his family of eight. Another elderly woman said she hadn’t managed to reach the food because she was almost crushed in the crowd.

Others were grateful to receive food, but said the method of airdropping aid only risked more violence.

“I took this box, thank God. It will help ease the hunger we’re facing. Praise be to God and thank you to everyone who helped us,” Mohammad Al-Bara’a told CNN.

The United Nations has warned that airdropping aid into Gaza is “very, very expensive” and often dangerous.

“Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders,” Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told CNN last week. “It’s much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer.”

Desperate Palestinians in Gaza sprint to receive airdropped aid

0:26 • Source: CNN

Desperate Palestinians in Gaza sprint to receive airdropped aid

0:26

Amid worsening health conditions in Gaza, more than one third of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers screened by one humanitarian agency in the territory are suffering from severe malnutrition, according to a leading aid organization.

UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) said Monday that 44% of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers assessed by Ard El Insan (AEI) — one of the charity’s partner organizations in Gaza — are “suffering from severe malnutrition and urgently need to be referred for medical treatment.”

The reported figure is an almost 10% increase from May, when 35% of mothers screened by the same local partner were suffering from severe malnutrition.

AEI had to shut down one of its medical points in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, MAP reported on Monday, following displacement orders issued by the Israeli military on July 20.

Prior to the closure, the medical point provided care to around 200 women and children every day, MAP said.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Egypt wait to be allowed to cross into Gaza on Monday.

The current flow of aid into Gaza is not enough for the population in the enclave who have faced months of hunger and malnutrition, Caroline Willemen, Gaza Project coordinator with Doctors without Borders, told CNN.

“It’s extremely early to be able to say that things are changing,” she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, adding that the population “has not had access to food in months.”

Willemen said that today she saw flour in the markets and that additional flow of aid might result in slight drop in prices, “but given how long this blockade has already lasted, how hungry people are, how many malnourished people there are, it will take a long time for things to stabilize, and it will take a much higher flow of aid.”

Willemen noted that Palestinians in the strip have faced a severe hunger crisis since spring.

“You need to keep mind that in spring, there were a few months of a total, total blockade with nothing entering Gaza. Then, now, since May, we’ve had a few months with a small, small trickle of food. People have been hungry for months,” she said.

Willemen, added that even before the war the Gaza strip relied on hundreds of aid trucks that entered the enclave daily to support the population “because of the economic blockade so the Gaza strip is not able — with the way that things are at the moment — to provide food for the population here, even before the war.”

Yazan, a malnourished 2-year-old boy, stands in his family's damaged home in the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 23.

Former British ambassador to the United States Peter Westmacott has said images of starving children in Gaza appear to have had a powerful impact – including on US President Donald Trump.

“What we have seen in the last few days has been these pictures of malnourished and starving children,” he told CNN’s Becky Anderson today. “And that does seem to have struck a chord in President Trump’s mind.”

“We are beginning to see some reaction,” he added, referring to the Israeli government’s recent talk of humanitarian pauses and attempts to get the humanitarian relief in.

“For a long time they’ve said, ‘oh, there’s no obstacle, there isn’t any famine, nobody’s starving, we’re not doing anything to block it.’ That demonstrably wasn’t true,” he said. “And now they are changing their mind a bit.”

“Thank goodness it’s a bit late, but I think it’s been something to do with those terrible pictures of starving children, which strikes a chord in everybody’s heart,” he added.

US President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

More now from US President Donald Trump, speaking from Scotland on the situation in Gaza alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

He acknowledged the challenges that have come with distributing food to the enclave, referencing images of Palestinians lining up for aid in the enclave facing.

Asked by reporters about the “food centers” the US is planning to set up in Gaza and who will be responsible, Trump added, “the United States will be helping with the food” and “we’re also going to make sure they don’t have barriers, stopping people.”

Trump went on to talk about the barriers that Palestinians have faced in attempting to reach aid.

Palestinians facing food shortages receive aid in Gaza City on Monday.

President Donald Trump has now told reporters in Turnberry that the US will set up “food centers” in Gaza to address the ongoing starvation and malnutrition crisis amid Israel’s aid blockade.

“We’re going to set up food centers, and we’re going to do it in conjunction with some very good people, and we’re going to supply funds, and we just took in trillions of dollars, we got a lot of money, and we’re going to spend a little money on some food, and other nations are joining us,” Trump said Monday. “So, we’re going to set up food centers, and where the people can walk in and no boundaries, we’re not going to have fences.”

Trump, who has largely blamed Hamas for the delay in distributing aid to civilians in Gaza, acknowledged Israel “has a lot of responsibility,” for limiting aid to the region, but again called for Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza to ease negotiations.

The president also broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s weekend assertion that there is “no starvation in Gaza.”

“That’s real starvation stuff,” Trump said. “I see it, and you can’t fake that. So, we’re going to be even more involved.”

You can follow more coverage from Trump’s meeting with Starmer, here.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Turnberry, Scotland, on Monday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also just been speaking, alongside US President Donald Trump, at Trump’s golf course in Turnberry, Scotland.

He said the British public is “revolted” by images of people starving in Gaza, urging that more be done to get aid into the enclave.

“It’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s an absolute catastrophe. Nobody wants to see that. And I think people in Britain are revolted at what they’re seeing on their screens,” Starmer said.

Starmer thanked Trump for leading efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, but stressed the need to funnel more aid to its starving population.

The prime minister said Britain was working with Jordan on arranging aid drops into Gaza, while trucks carrying aid still face complex logistical impediments imposed by Israel. “This is a desperate situation,” Starmer said.

Starmer is facing mounting pressure from within his Labour party to take a tougher line on Israel, made more acute after French President Emmanuel Macron announced France will recognize a Palestinian state in September, becoming the first G7 country to do so.