BURSTU.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that there is “possibly starvation” in the Gaza Strip but doubled down on the argument that the Palestinian militant group Hamas is stealing food sent into the war-torn enclave.
“I think there is certainly hunger and deprivation and possibly starvation, particularly in the northern parts of Hamas that are controlled, or the northern parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas. That's where the problem is,” Huckabee said on NewsNation’s "Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”
“I don't understand why so many world leaders and countries are putting all the pressure on Israel, who is pouring tons of food into the system, tons of food into Gaza. But when it's stolen and looted and then it's put in warehouses by Hamas to be resold,” he continued. “They made over half a billion dollars last year selling stolen food. And what do they do with that? They use it to kill people.”
President Trump said last week that he thinks there is “real starvation” happening in Gaza, a remark that runs counter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has denied the claims. Huckabee said later that there is no “break” between the Israeli leader and Trump.
The United Nations has warned that “many” malnourished children in Gaza are dying before being able to reach a hospital amid the nearly two-year long war.
“There’s a sense through the world’s press that things are improving. But unless there is sustained humanitarian aid ... there will be horrific results,” James Elder, a spokesperson for UNICEF, told reporters.
Huckabee, along with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, traveled to Gaza on Friday, where the diplomatic duo toured one of the four distribution sites run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
"Certainly, the GHF mechanism of getting food to people, it's not perfect, but it's working," Huckabee told host Elizabeth Vargas. "And it's working because when the president ordered us to stand up a humanitarian program, there were two requirements. One, get food to the people who are hungry ... two, make sure that it's not going to [a] delivery method [where] Hamas can steal it. That's been one of the big programs."
“The food is there. It's not getting in, and when it does get in, even by the U.N.'s own assessment of it, 87 percent of it is stolen, looted, [or] taken directly off the trucks, in what the U.N. euphemistically calls ‘self-distribution,’” he added.
Trump was asked on Tuesday, after Netanyahu held a meeting with his security team, if he backs Israel’s push to reoccupy the entirety of Gaza. One of the options presented by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the event was to continue fighting the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We are there now, trying to get people fed. As you know, $60 million was given by the United States fairly recently to supply food," the president said. "As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel."
Huckabee added in the interview that he does not think the Trump administration has taken a position on what the “next steps should be." But he reiterated that the U.S. demands for Hamas, which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government, should “demilitarize” and release the hostages taken during the 2023 attack.
Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages in its 2023 attack. The IDF's subsequent strikes have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The tally does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.