Donald Trump issues BIG statement on Gaza, says US will partner with Israel to...

United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. will partner with Israel to run new food centers in Gaza to address the worsening humanitarian crisis there, but he and U.S. officials offered few additional details about the plan or how it would differ from existing food distribution centers. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a trip to Scotland that Israel would preside over the new food centers “to make sure the distribution is proper.” “We’re going to be dealing with Israel, and we think they can do a good job of it,” Trump said.

Trump's disagreement with Netanyahu
The opaque details come as the Trump administration is facing calls at home and abroad to do more to address the hunger crisis in Gaza. The U.S.'s close ally, Israel, is at the center of an international outcry as more images of emaciated children continue to emerge. That pressure comes after the U.S. pulled out of talks last week to try to broker a ceasefire in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, accusing Hamas of acting in bad faith. But Trump this week broke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, disagreeing publicly with him about starvation in Gaza and citing the pictures of hungry people.

Democrats implore Trump over Gaza
The White House described it as “a new aid plan” to help people in Gaza obtain access to food and promised that details would emerge. It did not elaborate. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that she didn’t know “the framework” of how the new aid distribution would work. “I’m waiting for the president to return. I don’t want to get ahead of him,” Bruce said. Democrats in Congress have implored the Trump administration to step up its role in addressing the suffering and starvation in Gaza. More than 40 senators signed a letter Tuesday urging the Trump administration to resume ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing the Israeli-backed American organization that had already been created to distribute food aid.

'We're going to get them food'
The president, for the second day in a row, remarked on the images of starving people and kids in Gaza, which seemed to prompt him this week to announce the new plan and his break with Netanyahu. Trump said Tuesday that everyone who saw the images coming out of Gaza would declare it terrible “unless they’re pretty cold-hearted or, worse than that, nuts.” “Those are kids that are starving. They are starving,” Trump said. “They’ve got to get them food. And we’re going to get them food.” The shift brings Trump closer to some in his MAGA base, who have rejected the Republican Party’s long-standing, unequivocal support for Israel and see aid money flowing to the country as yet another misguided foreign intervention.

(With inputs from AP/PTI).