Trump says he does not endorse Netanyahu’s claim there is no starvation in Gaza | Donald Trump

Donald Trump has said he believes there is a famine in Gaza and he has told Israel that “maybe they have to do it in a different way”.

Speaking outside his hotel in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, on Monday, the US president said people in Gaza needed “to get food and safety right now” and that he wanted to get ceasefire talks restarted.

Asked if he agreed with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said earlier on Monday that there was no starvation in Gaza, Trump replied: “I don’t know. Based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry. We’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food and other nations are now stepping up.”

Asked if Israel had done all it could to avoid civilian casualties, Trump said: “Nobody’s done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess … I told Israel maybe they have to do it a different way.”

Speaking alongside Trump, Keir Starmer said the events in Gaza were a “real humanitarian crisis” and “people in Britain are revolted at what they’re seeing on their screens”.

The US president said he did not believe Hamas would release the remaining Israeli hostages it was holding and that the US had “given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else, a lot of that money is stolen by Hamas and a lot of that food is stolen”.

Asked about the UK government’s commitment to recognising a Palestinian state, Trump said: “I’m not going to take a position, I don’t mind him [the prime minister] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now.”

Trump and Starmer were speaking outside the Trump Turnberry hotel and golf resort where they were due to hold a bilateral meeting on Monday.

The crisis in Gaza is top of the prime minister’s agenda in his talks with the US president. Downing Street indicated ahead of the meeting that Starmer would press Trump to take a tougher stance towards Israel and push for ceasefire talks to resume.

The prime minister will hold an emergency cabinet meeting later this week to discuss the crisis amid international horror at the images of starvation in Gaza.

Starmer is under pressure from senior members of his cabinet and over a third of his MPs to immediately recognise a Palestinian state. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is expected to attend a UN conference in New York this week being held to discuss a pathway towards this.

Trump also suggested he would reduce the 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine before he imposed punishing tariffs, telling reporters he was “very disappointed” with Vladimir Putin.

He said: “We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever.

“You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that’s not the way to do it. So we’ll see what happens with that.”

He added: “We’re going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer, what’s going to happen.”