Actually that depends upon your definition of "create". Eve was actually the first to perform evil with her disobedience to God. That is where it all began. God created Eve, which then she did evil and began evil. So, in this sense, no God did not directly create evil Himself.
Others may say, scripture says God did create evil so that must be true. My belief is that the scripture is saying that God created Adam and Eve and gave them the opportunity to do evil if they chose. Which Eve did and that is where it began.
So, it is sort of a yes and no answer to this question. Yes God did create what first started evil so one could say He created it Himself. And no God did not directly create it as Eve or some other human first had to choose to do it.
So, did the makers of the atomic bomb create all the deaths in Nagasaki OR did the person who dropped the bomb create that disaster ? It all depends upon how you look at it and really it makes no difference how you look at it. Evil is here and we should do our best to avoid it.
So, my final answer is yes God did create what started evil, but He did not "directly" create evil. And the Bible does not say that he "directly" created evil. It only says he created it. There is a difference.