PM Schoof speaking with Egypt on Gaza famine as public pressure mounts

Caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof had a call with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, regarding the famine in Gaza. Schoof and al-Sisi discussed the emergency aid that Egypt has been delivering in Gaza and the role that the country is playing in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

“I told him of my gratitude for the large amount of aid that Egypt has made available to the Gaza population,” Schoof wrote on X. “It is of great importance that this emergency aid reaches the people in Gaza.”

Whether the Netherlands can assist in that, such as by airdropping aid into Gaza, was not something Schoof addressed.

The prime minister also discussed the subject with Jordan's King Abdullah. “We discussed how that aid can be delivered so it reaches the people of Gaza quickly and safely, and what the Netherlands is doing and can do further,” Schoof wrote on X after the meeting.

The food shortage in Gaza is reaching unprecedented levels. The World Health Organization recently reported that 63 of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths in 2025 occurred in July. This included 24 children under five years of age.

Around 260 aid trucks carrying food were reportedly awaiting clearance to enter Gaza on Monday, according to UN estimates. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last 21 months during the war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s Health Ministry has stated.

Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday evening at various train stations across the Netherlands against the war in Gaza. Stations such as Amsterdam Central and Utrecht Central were filled with protesters after 6 p.m.

On the same day, about 50 people gathered at the Israeli embassy in The Hague to begin reading aloud the names of 64,000 victims of the war in Gaza. The group, mostly from Nijmegen, intended to present the names to the embassy.

The lists include names of both Palestinian and Israeli victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, organizer Jos van Dongen explained. He described a feeling of helplessness and said the reading was a way to make their voices heard. "We want the war to end and for more aid to reach Gaza." Similar actions have previously taken place in cities including Middelburg and Utrecht.