Netanyahu denies claims of mass famine in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday rejected claims that residents of the Gaza Strip are suffering from hunger and that Israel is allegedly applying a policy of deliberate starvation. This was reported on May 28 by the Anadolu Agency.

Despite estimates by the United Nations and other international organizations that the region is on the verge of famine, Netanyahu insists that "thousands and thousands of prisoners have taken off their shirts, and you won't see a single emaciated one — not one — from the beginning of the war to the present."

He added that the Israeli army had photographed thousands of Palestinian prisoners, and none of them looked exhausted.

"They just don't play sports," the Times of India quoted him as saying.

According to Netanyahu, since the first days of the war, Israel has been supplying Gaza with "basic needs: food, water, medicines." However, he did not provide evidence for his claims, despite UN reports of a high degree of food shortages in the region.

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The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on March 25 that over 1 million residents of the Gaza Strip could be left without food if Israel does not open access to humanitarian aid supplies. According to UNRWA, the ongoing siege is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region, and "this must end."