Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food to enter Gaza after a more than 70-day total blockade on the Palestinian territory.
“On the recommendation of the IDF, and out of the operational need to enable the expansion of the intense fighting to defeat Hamas, Israel will introduce a basic amount of food to the population in order to ensure that a famine crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, according to Drop Site News.
Netanyahu said that a famine would “jeopardize” Israel’s new military campaign in Gaza, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” which was launched in recent days as the Israeli military has significantly stepped up strikes on Gaza and expanded ground operations, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s statement added that Israel “will work to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian aid to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas terrorists.”
According to the Israeli news site Ynet, Netanyahu told his security cabinet that the decision was necessary due to pressure from the US. In recent days, high-level US officials have expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Israeli media also reported that aid will be distributed by international organizations, including the UN’s World Food Program and the US-based World Central Kitchen, before being done through a new US and Israeli-backed foundation, a plan the UN has condemned as not sufficient to bring real relief to Gaza’s civilian population.
Both the WFP and WCK have recently shuttered operations in Gaza after running out of supplies due to the Israeli blockade. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, 57 children have died of malnutrition since the total blockade was imposed on March 2.
