Benjamin Netanyahu Defends Israel's Aid Policy In Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Hamas had "deliberately created a shortage" of supplies in Gaza by looting aid trucks. Speaking at a news conference for foreign and local media, amid international condemnation of his plans to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip, he also accused the UN of consistently refusing to distribute aid that he said Israel had allowed into Gaza. Netanyahu also ruled out accusations that Israel had a “starvation policy.” “If we had a starvation policy, no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war,” he stressed. After an international outcry over increasing starvation in Gaza, Israel introduced new measures it says are intended to increase the amount of food getting to the population, including airdrops and pauses in military operations in some areas. But so far, they have not had a significant effect, aid groups say.