US President Donald Trump has labelled Gaza "a mess" and said Israel will have to "make a decision" about its next steps in the strip, hours after the easing of aid restrictions.
Speaking at his golf course in Scotland, the president suggested Hamas had changed its stance on negotiations to seek the release of the 50 Israeli hostages the group still held captive in exchange for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged strip.
"They had a routine discussion the other day and all of a sudden [Hamas] hardened up," he said.
"They don't want to give them back and so Israel's going to have to make a decision."
Mr Trump said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated dramatically.
More than 100 humanitarian agencies had warned the strip was facing mass starvation, as Israeli restrictions on aid fuelled shortages of food and other supplies.Israel denied its actions had caused a starvation crisis, instead blaming Hamas for creating the situation.
Palestinian health authorities said 133 people had died from starvation in the last week, with 87 of them children.
"You know, when I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks, and people are stealing the food, they're stealing the money, they're stealing the money for the food, they're stealing weapons, they're stealing everything," Mr Trump said.
"It's a mess. That whole place is a mess."
