Gaza faces worst-case hunger crisis as U.S. promises more aid

As food aid was air-dropped into Gaza on Tuesday, desperate residents rushed into the ocean to retrieve packages that had landed offshore.

(NBC)- As food aid was air-dropped into Gaza on Tuesday, desperate residents rushed into the ocean to retrieve packages that had landed offshore. Among them was a father who nearly drowned in the effort.

The scene comes as a dire new assessment from the world’s top hunger-monitoring authority warns Gaza is enduring the “worst-case scenario of famine.” Though no official famine declaration has been made, the report says 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition in just the past three months.

In response, President Trump announced the United States will send more food aid.

“They are starving, and you see the mothers, they love them so much, and there’s just nothing,” Trump said. “We’re going to get them food.”

The president also blamed Hamas for worsening the crisis, accusing the group of stealing aid. “They send money, they send food, and Hamas steals it,” he said.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 60,000 Gazans have been killed since the war began nearly two years ago, following the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths in its reporting.

President Trump also criticized Hamas for blocking progress toward a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring home Israeli hostages still held in Gaza—“by one path or another,” he said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations says only about half of the aid it has requested is making it into the territory. Conditions remain dire.