Van Hollen: 'A big lie' that UN aid for Gaza has been 'systematically' stolen by Hamas
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Sunday there is no truth to claims that United Nations aid for Palestinians in Gaza has been "systematically" stolen by Hamas.
“This is a big lie, the claim that when the U.N. organizations were delivering food to Palestinians, civilians, that it was being systematically diverted to Hamas,” Van Hollen told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
“I want to say loudly and clearly, this is a big lie,” the Maryland senator added.
On Sunday, President Trump said Hamas is stealing food that was meant for people in Gaza, saying to reporters on multiple occasions that goods are being stolen as he was pressed on the hunger crisis in the region.
Trump, alongside President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland, was questioned about his response to the images of starving children in Gaza.
“When I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks people are stealing the food, they’re stealing the money, they’re stealing the money for the food. They’re stealing weapons, they’re stealing everything,” the president said.
“It’s a mess, that whole place is a mess. The Gaza Strip, you know it was given many years ago so they could have peace. That didn’t work out too well,” Trump continued.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) echoed Trump on Sunday's "Meet the Press" on NBC News.
“This is important to note: Israel, since this war began, has supplied over 94,000 truckloads full of food. It’s enough food to feed 2 million people for two years trying to get that into Gaza. But Hamas has stolen the food, a huge amount," Johnson said.
He also criticized “the system,” calling it “broken,” adding that beginning tomorrow, the Israeli military will open “new channels of distribution to get it [food] to those people who are desperately in need.”
Former President Obama said on Sunday that “aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza.”
“There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,” the former president added in a post on the social platform X on Sunday.