Israel has announced it will allow a “basic amount of food” to enter Gaza on Monday, after a 10-week blockade has pushed the population of the besieged strip on the verge of starvation.
In a statement, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the decision has been made to ensure that famine doesn’t develop in Gaza and that at the recommendation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s expanded military campaign in the territory is not jeopardized.
Netanyahu agreed to allow limited supplies to go into the war-ravaged strip after pressure from allies concerned about “images of hunger” which they “cannot accept.”
In a video statement posted on social media on Monday, the Israeli Prime Minister said “Israel’s greatest friends in the world” (without specifying them), had threatened to withdraw support for his country. He added that a “starvation crisis” would jeopardize Israel’s new offensive against Hamas in Gaza and that a “basic amount of food” would be allowed in.
Israel has not explained what a “basic amount of food” is, but it says any food deliveries would bypass Hamas.
A UN official told the Associated Press news agency that 20 aid trucks carrying mostly food would go into the territory.
Israel’s move comes amid multiple warnings by aid agencies of famine engulfing Gaza and under increasing international pressure to lift the blockade, under which, since March 2, no food, fuel or medicines have been allowed into the territory. Footage and accounts of emaciated children suffering malnutrition have been emerging since, with the World Health Organization (WHO) saying last week that the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.1 million residents is increasing while a UN-backed report said that one in five people in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation.
Israel has just ramped up its war on Gaza, where it’s been conducting a military campaign since 2023, when Palestinian militant group Hamas killed 1,200 and took hostage 251 people on October 7, 2023.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 53,000 people have been killed in Israel’s 19-month campaign, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. It reported 464 people were killed in the past week alone.
On Sunday, a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News that the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.
Israel launched an extensive military operation in Gaza Sunday, in addition to an intense air campaign that health officials in the territory say killed over 100 people overnight and shuttered the last functioning hospital in Gaza’s north.
Ceasefire talks took place in Qatar over the weekend. Israel said they involved discussions with Hamas on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal. However, no breakthrough was reported.
The Israeli military has claimed that their new military campaign called “Gideon’s Chariots,” which was announced late on Friday, has brought Hamas back to the negotiating table. The campaign was launched “to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” the IDF said in a statement.
