US President Donald Trump engaged in a heated telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Gaza’s humanitarian situation on July 28, NBC News reported, citing American officials and a Western source.

The confrontation followed Netanyahu's public declaration on July 27 that there was "no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza." Trump contradicted this assessment the following day while visiting Scotland, stating he had seen images of children in Gaza who "look very hungry" and that there was "real starvation" which "you can't fake."

"That's pretty much going to be up to Israel," Trump said on August 5 when asked about supporting Israeli military control of Gaza, while noting his priority was ensuring civilian food access.

The conversation, described by one US official as "a direct, mostly one-way conversation" with Trump doing most of the talking, reportedly escalated to shouting over concerns about the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and civilian casualties near aid distribution centres.

Netanyahu requested the urgent call to argue that hunger reports were fabricated Hamas propaganda, but Trump reportedly interrupted him, insisting his staff had shown him proof of starving children in Gaza, according to NBC’s sources.

The dispute prompted the White House to dispatch Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff to the region. Witkoff toured a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centre with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, inquiring whether relief efforts required expansion. Israeli officials acknowledged "operational difficulties" in food distribution due to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Following Witkoff's visit, US officials announced plans to expand Gaza food distribution points from four to 16. A US official noted that Washington "not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it" given America's role in the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly declined to comment on private presidential conversations, stating Trump was "focused on returning all the hostages and getting the people in Gaza fed." Netanyahu's office dismissed the report as "complete fake news."

UN-backed experts claimed that Gaza is slipping into a famine, stating that the death toll in the territory has surpassed 60,000.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military accused United Nations agencies of failing to safeguard the humanitarian aid system in Gaza, allowing Hamas to exploit and manipulate the process for its own strategic advantage.