Netanyahu says Israel to take over all Gaza, start aid flows
Israel will take over the entire Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, as the military announced it would carry out an “unprecedented attack” on Hamas.
Netanyahu said that, alongside the increased attacks, Israel would start allowing aid into Gaza again after stopping it in early March in a bid to make Hamas release hostages and surrender.
International pressure has mounted on Israel to restart aid. The United Nations says malnutrition is worsening and last week France’s President Emmanuel Macron accused Netanyahu of “shameful” behavior in blocking aid.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, who had in the past opposed restarting the aid, said on Monday there was no choice, “otherwise, the world will force us to stop the war.” He also said that the military is now operating with much greater intensity.
“This time, the operational method is completely different: not raids, but rather occupation, cleansing and holding the territory until Hamas is destroyed,” Smotrich said. “Along the way, we are destroying everything that is left of the Gaza Strip, because everything there is one big city of terror.”
According to the Integrated Food Security Classification, whose assessments are used for planning by the U.N. and international aid organizations, around 1.6 million of Gaza’s 2 million people are now facing an emergency regarding the availability of food.
Israel denies there are significant shortages of food. But Netanyahu said he needed to allow in aid to stop the onset of hunger, adding that U.S. senators who support Israel had urged him to do so.
Netanyahu’s decision to resume aid flows isn’t universally popular in Israel, especially among far-right members of his coalition. They believe aid should stay blocked to prevent Hamas using supplies of food and medicine to fund and bolster its war effort.
Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces recommended he make the move.
Israel had originally said it would restart aid once it could establish secured distribution areas that would prevent Hamas from stealing the supplies.
However, this mechanism will only begin around May 25, until when an interim arrangement would be put in place, Caroline Glick, international affairs adviser to the prime minister, said in a telephone interview.
“We have a stopgap measure for a week because while there is no starvation or critical shortage, it is getting close and we don’t want to reach a red line,” Glick said. “We are going to make sure no one goes hungry in Gaza. There will be mobile kitchens.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said at a Jerusalem press conference that the first items headed in are baby food, medical supplies and flour for the bakeries run by international organizations.
The IDF is asking Palestinians in Khan Younis, one of Gaza’s biggest cities, and two other nearby areas to leave immediately, ahead of an attack.
On Sunday, the IDF said it was poised to order tanks and troops into unconquered parts of the Gaza Strip in an all-out bid to destroy Hamas, which still holds 58 hostages. The operation involves tens of thousands of soldiers.
International anger
The decision to step up operations has angered many Arab states and European countries. They fear it will increase the death toll in Gaza significantly and prolong the war, now almost 20 months old.
Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union, triggered the conflict when it attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, from Gaza. It killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel and Hamas continue to negotiate via mediators such as the U.S., Qatar and Egypt. Israel has signaled it might accept a proposal from Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s main Middle East envoy, that would free about 10 hostages in return for a truce of roughly six weeks to two months.