Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday Israel would control the whole of Gaza despite mounting international pressure that pushed it to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine.
The Israeli military, which announced the start of a new operation on Friday, warned residents of the southern city of Khan Younis yesterday to evacuate to the coast immediately as it prepared ‘an unprecedented attack’.
Netanyahu said in a video message Israel would achieve ‘complete victory’ with both the release of the 58 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and the destruction of Hamas.
Even as the military warned of the attack. Reuters reporters saw aid trucks heading towards northern Gaza after increasing global alarm forced Netanyahu to lift a blockade imposed in March.
Israel has said aid was being stolen by Hamas, a charge Hamas denies. European countries including France, Germany and Britain have said the situation in Gaza is intolerable, and even US support appeared to be wavering.
Netanyahu said US senators he has known for years as supporters of Israel, ‘our best friends in the world’, were telling him the scenes of hunger were draining vital support and bringing Israel close to a ‘red line, to a point where we might lose control’.
“It is for that reason, in order to achieve victory, we have to somehow solve the problem,” he said, in a message apparently addressed to far-right hardliners in his government who have insisted aid be denied to Gaza.
The United Nations has long said Gaza needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day. The World Food Programme has said more than 116,000 metric tonnes of food – enough to feed one million people for up to four months – was standing ready to be brought in.
However it remained unclear how much aid would be allowed in and how it would be distributed before the launch of a US-sponsored plan to employ private contractors to distribute aid, which the United Nations and other aid groups have rejected.
The Israeli military said five trucks had entered Gaza yesterday, although UN aid officials said nine trucks had been cleared to enter, a quantity UN aid chief Tom Fletcher described as ‘a drop in the ocean’.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said it would take time to create a situation where hundreds of trucks were able to enter daily but added: “I think that’s also a decision for the political echelon of how many will come in,” he told reporters.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days as the military campaign has intensified, with at least 40 people killed yesterday, according to local medical workers.
One of the strikes killed seven at a school housing displaced families in Nuseirat, central Gaza, and three in a house in nearby Deir Al Balah, local health authorities said.
The military said it hit 160 targets, including anti-tank positions, underground infrastructure and a weapons storage point as part of what it has dubbed ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariots’.
Yesterday, residents and medics said an Israeli undercover force disguised as displaced persons killed Ahmed Sarhan, a commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group allied with Hamas in a raid in the city of Khan Younis.
The leaders of Britain, France and Canada warned yesterday that their countries would take action if Israel does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions.
“The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” a joint statement released by the British government said.
“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank ... We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”
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