Netanyahu convenes ministers on new phase of Gaza war and aid

By James Mackenzie

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said.

In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.

It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at the meeting, but the military has already begun issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders for its reserve forces, looking to expand the Gaza campaign, its chief said on Sunday.

"We are increasing the pressure with the goal of returning our people (hostages) and defeating Hamas," Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir told troops, according to a statement from the army.

Already in control of around a third of Gaza's territory, Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a U.S.-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.

Ministers have defended the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied. At the same time, Israel has faced warnings of famine in Gaza as supplies run low.

The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), a forum that includes U.N. agencies, said on Sunday that Israeli officials were seeking its consent to deliver aid through what it described as "Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings".

In its statement, HCT said such a plan would be dangerous and would "contravene fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy."

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than U.N. agencies, in a new designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks.

AID DEBATE

New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday's security cabinet meeting, two officials said.

Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership and defence establishment for months. The military has pushed back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.

Zamir, who took office in March, has stuck to the position of his predecessor and the former defence minister.

He told ministers last month that Israeli troops would not distribute aid and that he would not allow starvation in Gaza, angering hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had hoped for a more aggressive approach.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the deadliest day for Israel in its history.

The campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities and devastated the Gaza Strip, leaving its 2.3 million population depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.

(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Writing by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Conor Humphries)