In today's issue:

▪ Turning tides on Israel, Gaza

▪ President raises more Epstein questions

▪ Booker says Dems 'complicit' with Trump

▪ The US-China AI race heats up

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The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza is testing President Trump's Middle East policy, as the president faces pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the international community amid reports of famine in the besieged enclave.

Trump notably disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, acknowledging Monday that "real starvation" is happening. A United Nations-affiliated organization that tracks food security worldwide this week issued a dire alert confirming a "worst-case" famine scenario is unfolding across Gaza.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said the crisis in Gaza “could be” a political problem for Trump, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports.

“I think that the American people at the end of the day are a kind people. They don’t like seeing suffering, nor do I think the president does,” Tillis said. “If you see starvation, you try to fix it.”

Trump told reporters Tuesday while capping his trip to Scotland that he was "trying to get things straightened out" with Netanyahu and Gaza.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee pushed back on the idea the president’s remarks this week represent a break in their relationship.

“Let me assure you that there is no break between the prime minister of Israel and the president,” Huckabee said Tuesday on Fox News. “Their relationship, I think, [is] stronger than it’s ever been, and I think the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is as strong as it’s ever been.”

Images of starving children — and reports of Israeli attacks on civilians lining up for humanitarian aid — have led some members of Trump’s base to speak out about the unfolding crisis in Gaza, adding to pressure on the administration to intervene. Trump has said the U.S. will partner with Israel to run additional food centers.

The increasing unease among some of Trump’s staunchest supporters puts a spotlight on the administration’s close ties with Israel and raises additional questions about what exactly Trump will do to get aid into Gaza. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) and MAGA-friendly podcast host Theo Von are among those in Trump's orbit who have expressed alarm at the situation.

Greene on Tuesday referred to the Israeli campaign in Gaza as “genocide.” Similar criticism has so far been confined to the left, where academics and activists in pro-Palestinian spaces have accused the Israeli government of “ethnic cleansing.”

The White House earlier this year cracked down on pro-Palestine protests on university campuses, accusing schools of enabling antisemitism and pledging to screen international students’ social media accounts for anti-Israel sentiment in their visa applications.

The U.N. estimates nearly 1 in 3 people in Gaza are going without food for days at a time. At least 24 children younger than 5 have died from hunger-related causes in July, according to the World Health Organization.

"Immediate, unimpeded" humanitarian access into Gaza is the only way to stop rapidly rising "starvation and death," the leading international authority on food crisis said this week.

▪The Hill: U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday his country will recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.

▪ Bloomberg News: Netanyahu and Trump criticized Starmer’s pledge to recognize the state of Palestine, saying it would reward Hamas.

▪NPR: His name is Mohammad Al-Motawaq. He is 18 months old. And he is starving in Gaza.

▪The Atlantic: The bargain behind Gaza’s catastrophe.

A new Gallup poll measures Americans’ approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza at 32 percent, the lowest point recorded since the question was first asked in November 2023. While a majority of surveyed Republicans approve of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, the wide divergence among political parties is viewed as threatening the longstanding bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Democrats are stepping up pressure on the administration while criticizing Netanyahu's largely passive stance in response to the unfolding crisis in Gaza. A group of 40 Democrats wrote a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff urging the Trump administration to replace the Gaza Humanitarian........

© The Hill