World
Dengue fever outbreak in Samoa. Ceasefire agreement in Thailand and Cambodia. China’s baby bonuses. By Jonathan Pearlman.
Trump urges Israel to address ‘real starvation’
Great power rivalry
Gaza: United States President Donald Trump has urged Israel to allow more aid into Gaza to stave off “real starvation” in the enclave, as Israel paused fighting and boosted aid flows amid an international outcry over the humanitarian crisis.
As a group of aid experts declared that “famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”, Trump disputed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence there was no starvation in the territory.
“Based on television … those children look very hungry,” Trump told reporters. “That’s real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can’t fake that.”
Trump said the US and European countries would support new food centres in Gaza but rejected moves by the United Kingdom and France to recognise a Palestinian state.
“You could make the case that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that,” he said.
Israel denied there was widespread famine – it said widely circulated images of malnourished children show youths with genetic conditions. It introduced daily 10-hour pauses on fighting across much of Gaza and increased deliveries of aid by land and air.
The IPC, a panel of experts analysing whether a famine should be formally declared, said in an alert this week that famine in Gaza was “rapidly unfolding”.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” it said.
Israel blocked the entry of aid into Gaza in March and resumed delivery of supplies in May through a new organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose operations have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of aid-seekers, including many shot by Israeli troops.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said this week that 89 malnutrition-related deaths occurred this month, including 25 children.
The humanitarian crisis has led to growing international calls for Israel to boost aid and agree to a ceasefire.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday the UK will recognise an independent Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes “steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza and commits to a long-term sustainable peace”. French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that France will recognise the state of Palestine in September. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, followed suit on Wednesday.
This week brought a joint declaration by the foreign ministers of 15 countries, including Australia, confirming they have recognised or will consider recognising “the State of Palestine, as an essential step towards the two-State solution”.
The statement, which asks “all countries that have not done so to join this call”, also expresses “our determination to work on an architecture for the ‘day after’ in Gaza which guarantees the reconstruction of Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from the Palestinian governance”.
The neighbourhood
Samoa: Authorities shut schools and universities this week and conducted a fumigation of all educational institutions to combat a deadly dengue fever outbreak that has been spreading across the Pacific.
The outbreak was declared by Samoan authorities in April but has been worsening and is now causing about 100 cases a week. More than 2200 cases have been detected in the Pacific nation, which has 209,000 residents. Most cases have involved children under the age of 10. Three children have died, and dozens of people – mostly children – are in hospitals.
The fumigation program will attempt to disrupt mosquito breeding and slow the spread of the virus. Parents have been urged to ensure their children sleep under mosquito nets.
Authorities have also conducted clean-ups in villages, including covering water containers and clearing rubbish.
“This is a national effort and we are calling on every family, every village and every community to help make Samoa safe again,” a health ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The World Health Organization has warned that the outbreak has been spreading across the Pacific, including in Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands and French Polynesia. Ten deaths have been reported across the region.
War zone
Thailand: The leaders of Cambodia and Thailand agreed to a ceasefire on Monday after heavy fighting along their border left at least 43 people dead and prompted more than 300,000 to flee.
Following five days of clashes, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and acting Thai prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai met in Malaysia and committed to an “unconditional” ceasefire at talks backed by Donald Trump. After Thailand initially rejected efforts at mediation, Trump warned he would not negotiate on tariffs until the fighting ended.
A decades-old border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia flared up in May after skirmishes left a Cambodian soldier dead. Tensions increased as Thailand barred citizens and tourists from entering Cambodia via land and Cambodia restricted some imports from Thailand.
Last week, the conflict escalated into open fighting, including air strikes, rockets and artillery, after a Thai soldier lost a leg in a landmine explosion. Both sides accused each other of opening fire first. Many of the casualties were villagers hit by rockets and shells.
The two countries have regularly clashed along their 800-kilometre border, though the last deadly conflict was in 2011. The latest dispute involved claims by both sides to the ownership of a 12th century Khmer-era Hindu temple, Prasat Ta Muen Thom.
The recent tensions resulted in the suspension of Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, by a Thai court following a leaked phone call with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former leader, in which she called him “uncle” and seemed to disparage the Thai military. She apologised but claimed her comments were a negotiating tactic.
Spotlight: China offers baby bonus
In 2016, China’s Communist Party ended its “one child” policy, which was introduced in the late 1970s to address concerns that the country’s population growth could stifle its economic growth.
China now faces a new threat, directly related to this policy: population decline.
A drop in marriages and in the fertility rate have resulted in China’s population shrinking for each of the past three years. In 2024, there were 9.5 million births and 10.9 million deaths.
China is now introducing its first ever baby bonuses, offering to give parents 3600 yuan ($770) a year for each child under the age of three. The policy, reported by China’s Xinhua news agency on Monday, will apply to babies born from January 2025.
China’s National Health Commission said the handouts could “help alleviate the financial burden of raising children” and “assuage the fertility anxieties of young couples”.
Analysts said the handouts were also designed to address China’s sagging economy by providing a much-needed boost to household consumption.
Zichun Huang, from Capital Economics, said in a statement the amount offered was too low to help improve the fertility rate or consumption. “But the policy does mark a major milestone in terms of direct handouts to households and could lay the groundwork for more fiscal transfers in future,” he said.
China, with 1.4 billion residents, has the world’s second-largest population, behind India, which has about 1.44 billion residents.
Beijing’s decision to introduce the subsidies follows a trial this year in China’s Inner Mongolia region, which involved a payment of 10,000 yuan ($2140) for a first child, 50,000 yuan ($10,700) for a second child, and 100,000 yuan ($21,400) for subsequent children. New mothers also receive a daily cup of free milk.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on August 2, 2025 as "Trump urges Israel to address ‘real starvation’ ".
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