Netanyahu shuns claims of mass starvation in Gaza, says 'they don't exercise'

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken against the claims of mass starvation in Gaza. Speaking at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Conference, chaired by Israel in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said 'there cannot be mass starvation at all' in Gaza as Israel has supplied about 1.8 million tons of food and humanitarian aid to the region.

He justified his argument by giving an example of Palestinian prisoners, who according to him are never emaciated.

"So we supply them with about 1.8 million tons 1.8 million tons of food and aid. That's an enormous amount and that's why people didn't have mass starvation at all," said Netanyahu.

"In fact I'll give you one simple indication of that. We take thousands of prisoners. We sort them out into civilians and into combatants and we photograph them. You can see those photographs, those videos. What's the first thing you do when you take a prisoner in Gaza? First thing you do is you tell them, take your shirt off we want to see that there's no suicide vest.

“Thousands and thousands of prisoners have taken their shirt off. And you don't see one, not one emaciated, not a single case from the beginning of the war till the present. In fact you see the opposite, you don't get enough exercise,” he further added.

Earlier, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had alleged starvation in Gaza and had urged Israel to allow humanitarian aid, including food, in the ongoing blockade.

US-backed aid model in Gaza faces backlash

Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has hit out at the new US-backed aid model in Gaza after Israeli forces fired in the air to disperse crowd that had rushed into a GHF aid distribution centre in Rafah in southern Gaza on Tuesday.

"We have seen yesterday the shocking images of hungry people pushing against fences, desperate for food. It was chaotic, undignified and unsafe," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in Japan, as reported by AFP.

"I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities. We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose," the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said.

In early May, the United States sidelined the United Nations and created the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to provide aid to Palestinians.