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News Analysis
The crisis has echoes of past humanitarian crises that left presidents wringing their hands over how to respond.
July 30, 2025, 6:34 p.m. ET
As Gaza tips into famine and images of starving children trigger new demands for action, President Trump faces a test all too familiar to his predecessors.
Time after time, presidents have found themselves watching suffering in faraway countries with the knowledge that they could act to save innocent lives. Images of death and misery in places like the Balkans, Rwanda, Darfur and Syria, to name a few, haunted their consciences — sometimes moving them to act, but often leading to excuses.
The desperation in Gaza has emerged as such a test for Mr. Trump. By his own account, images of malnourished Gazans in the war-ravaged enclave have disturbed him enough to take action.
“I mean, some of those kids are — that’s real starvation stuff,” Mr. Trump said in Scotland on Monday. “I see it, and you can’t fake it. So we’re going to be even more involved.”
It was unclear what Mr. Trump meant by getting “more involved.” Days earlier, he had withdrawn his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, from talks between Israel and Hamas in pursuit of a cease-fire to end the Gaza war.
But Mr. Witkoff will now travel to Israel on Thursday to discuss Gaza, and Israeli news outlets reported that he might even visit a food distribution center in the territory.
