Trump says Israel has responsibility to ensure flow of aid to Gaza - as Starmer brands conditions ‘intolerable’

By Flaminia Luck

Donald Trump has said Israel has the responsibility to ensure a flow of aid into Gaza during a press conference in Scotland.

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He met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire.

When quizzed by a reporter, the US President said Israel holds responsibility in limiting aid to Gaza before adding they are "hampered" by the remaining 20 hostages still being held by Hamas.

Starmer then urged the need "to get the hostages out".

He added the situation on the ground in Gaza is "absolutely intolerable" and that humanitarian aid needs to get in "at speed and at volume".

He also says the British population is "revolted" by the scenes emerging from Gaza.

Sir Keir added the UK and the US can do "our very best to alleviate" the situation.

'Very difficult'

Hamas has become "very difficult to deal with", Trump also said, during the press conference.

The US president said: "Hamas has become very difficult to deal with in the last couple of days, because they don't want to give up these last 20, because they think as long as ... they have them, they have protection, but I don't think it can work that way.

"So I'm speaking to (Benjamin) Netanyahu, and we are coming up with various plans.

"I'm going to say it's a very difficult situation. If they didn't have the hostages, things would go very quickly, but they do, and we know where they have them, in some cases, and you don't want to go riding roughshod over that area, because that means those hostages will be killed."

Gaza aid crisis: Two perspectives from the ground

Trump also suggested anyone holding Israelis hostage should be "helping" them, as he appeared to compare the situation to Jewish people escaping the Nazis by hiding in attics.

The US president said: "You see it in the movies where somebody is a prisoner, or somebody is helping. You even see it with Germany, where people would be let into a house and live in an attic in secret.

"You know, you see signs of stuff. I said, did you see anything like, did they wink at you or did they say 'don't worry, you're going to be OK'?

"I never received, I asked that question all the time, I've never received one answer that said, 'yes, they really wanted to help'.

"The hatred is just incredible."

Trump also said he has a "great love" for Scotland, when asked whether more could be done for the country on trade with the US.

Pointing to the fact his mother, Mary Anne, was born there, he said she would return to her homeland "once a year" for a visit.

He later added: "So yeah, it gives me a feeling, you know it's different, you go to another country, you have no relationship to it... but it's different when your mother was born here."

Pushed again on whether that could mean a different deal for products such as whisky, Mr Trump added: "I was very particular, this is a part of the world I want to see thrive. It's going to thrive."