This handout picture provided by the Tunisian Presidency's Press Service shows Tunisia's President Kais Saied (right) showing Massad Boulos, senior Africa adviser to the U.S. president, pictures of starving children in Gaza during their meeting at the presidential palace in Carthage on July 22, 2025. (Credit: Presidency Press Service via AFP)
Tunisian President Kais Saied showed photos of starving children in Gaza to Massad Boulos, the Lebanese-American Africa advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, telling him that “it is time for all of humanity to wake up.” They are "in agony," he said.
“I believe you know these photos well. A crying child, eating sand in occupied Palestine,” Saied said to Boulos, according to a video published Tuesday evening on the presidency’s Facebook page. The Tunisian head of state showed several other photos to the U.S. presidential adviser of skeletal children “in agony,” as he described.
More than a hundred humanitarian organizations warned on Wednesday that “mass famine” is spreading in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been pummelling with bombs for more than 21 months. The day before, one Gaza hospital announced that 21 children had died from malnutrition or hunger in the Palestinian territory within 72 hours.
“This is absolutely unacceptable," Saied said. "This is a crime against all of humanity.” Boulos stood across from him with his hands folded, listening. “It is time for all of humanity to wake up and put an end to these crimes against the Palestinian people.”
Israel, which has been imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip since October 2023, claims there is no famine at this stage and denies blocking humanitarian aid, while refusing to allow any to enter for more than two months straight, from March until May.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing food and reselling food despite failing to provide any evidence to back this claim, and despite comments to the contrary by U.S. and U.N. officials. Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are underway in Qatar, but have been stuck for a week now at the point of Israeli troop withdrawal.
After Tunisia, Boulos, who is also the father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, arrived on Wednesday in Tripoli, according to a Libyan TV channel.
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