Last Week Tonight host John Oliver criticized conservative pundit Megyn Kelly, calling it "frankly insulting" that she could claim there is “no starvation” in Gaza and assert that photos of starving children in the beseiged territory are being "manipulated" by Palestine.
Although Israel announced last Sunday that it would pause military operations in certain parts of Gaza to allow in more food aid, humanitarian organizations say the relief is insufficient. Without a significant increase in aid, they warn, more Palestinians will die from hunger.
At least 151 Palestinians have died from starvation so far, with most of those deaths occurring in the past month alone. Experts from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification recently warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” and that “widespread death” is imminent unless immediate and drastic action is taken.
Oliver spoke out after Kelly, along with conservative news analyst Mark Levin and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, questioned the credibility of images showing Gaza's starving children, with Levin and Huckabee asserting that the children already have diseases that have left them malnourished.
Huckabee even goes so far as to comment on how "sturdy" the mother holding one of the starving children looks.
But Kelly's thoughts on the matter really took the cake.
She said the following during a recent conversation with Piers Morgan:
"I'm always reluctant to put too much stock into the images coming out of Gaza because they're manipulated and they're masters of propaganda and they're fine letting their own children starve just as long as they can put them on camera and show them off to the world."
Oliver said in response:
“Oh, f**k that sh*t. For what it’s worth, a child can have a pre-existing condition and be starving. Sick children — and this is true — also need food to live.”
"I don't think you can disprove mass starvation in an area with, 'I saw a picture of one sturdy mom.' I kind of hoped we were done with Megyn Kelly as a society, and collectively you don't actually have to litigate this case one photo at a time."
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Many concurred with Oliver's assessment.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed or injured while trying to access food aid in Gaza this summer. The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has come under fire for repeated incidents of violence near its distribution sites.
Last month, more than 170 charities and NGOs—including Oxfam and Save the Children—called for the GHF to be shut down, accusing the Israeli military of “routinely” firing on civilians seeking food.
Despite attempts to downplay the crisis, Israeli government data, along with assessments from UN-backed food security experts, tells a different story: Gaza is undergoing a “worst-case scenario” famine. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest ally, former President Donald Trump, has acknowledged the crisis, saying there is “real starvation” in the territory.
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