Israel says it is letting in a “basic quantity” of food into Gaza after a nearly three-month blockade that has left many Palestinians on the brink of a famine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his cabinet was acting at the recommendation of the IDF “due to the operational need to enable the expansion of intense fighting.”
On Saturday, Israel launch a new “extensive” ground offensive in Gaza which it named “Gideon’s Chariots.”
On Sunday alone, Israeli strikes killed more than 100 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The strikes forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main health facility serving northern Gaza.
Netanyahu mentioned the need to prevent a “hunger crisis,” which the military says “would endanger the continued operation to defeat Hamas.”
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, nearly 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza are already living in “catastrophic” levels of hunger and face possible starvation. One million others can barely get enough food, it added.
Food security experts said last week that Gaza would likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.
It was not immediately clear when aid would enter Gaza, or how. Netanyahu said Israel would work to ensure that Hamas will not control aid distribution and ensure the aid does not reach Hamas militants.
Israel began the offensive — the largest since it shattered a ceasefire in March — with the aim of seizing territory and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Ceasefire talks continue
Israel is pressuring Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire that would free hostages from Gaza but not necessarily end the war. Hamas says it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and a path to ending the war as part of any deal.
Netanyahu’s office said his negotiating team in Qatar was “working to realise every chance for a deal,” including one that would end fighting in exchange for the release of all remaining 58 hostages, Hamas’ exile from Gaza and the disarmament of the territory.
Hamas has refused to leave Gaza or disarm.
Since Israel ended the previous ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry has said almost 3,000 people have been killed.
Frustration in Israel has been rising. A small but growing number of Israelis are refusing to show up for military service, even risking imprisonment. Other Israelis have been displaying photos of children killed in Gaza during weekly rallies demanding a deal to free all hostages and end the war.
The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 57, of whom 22 are believed to be alive.
ADVEReadNOWISEMENTA subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed over 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military says 856 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.
Additional sources • AP