President Donald Trump said Tuesday he did not discuss the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer hours after the British leader announced he might do so, adding that the U.S. has “no view” on the matter.
The comments come just one day after Trump acknowledged there is “real starvation” in Gaza, breaking with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s stance that that there is “no starvation” in the war-torn strip.
Tuesday morning, Starmer joined French President Emmanuel Macron in vowing to recognize a Palestinian state ahead of September’s United Nations General Assembly, in the absence of “substantive steps” to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on the part of Israel.
“We never did discuss it. We have no view on that,” Trump said of Starmer’s announcement on Air Force One on Tuesday. “We are going to get a lot of money to the area so they get some food.”
The growing international condemnation of Israel from American allies follows a United Nations-backed report from the world’s leading authority on food crises, which warned that a “worst-case scenario of famine” is playing out in Gaza.
Trump also pushed back on pressure to urge Israel to come to a long-term solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, telling reporters such a move would play to the interests of Hamas.
“You could make the case that you're rewarding people, that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that,” he said Tuesday. “I don't think they should be rewarded. I'm not in that camp, to be honest.”
The Trump administration has since sought to downplay the rift between the two governments, with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee saying Tuesday morning “there is no break between the prime minister of Israel and the president.”
Trump said the U.S. contributed $60 million to an effort to set up food centers in Gaza and that the centers, which will be operated by the Israeli government, would be set up “very soon.” He added that the European Union would also be contributing to the effort to address the growing hunger crisis in Gaza.
State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Tuesday afternoon that the fighting in Gaza would have to cease before it would be appropriate to consider a future for a possible Palestinian state.
“Regardless of the conflict that has been worked on — whether it’s Russia-Ukraine, the Gaza Strip or anywhere else — you can’t really begin to contemplate what’s next until people stop killing each other,” she said. “We are still at that point. Because of Hamas’ recalcitrance and refusal to lay down its arms, refusal to release the hostages, we’re not at a point where we’re looking at what is next.”
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