‘Insanity’: Hawkish politicians and groups pillory Netanyahu for resuming aid to Gaza

Right-wing politicians and groups assailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s abrupt decision Sunday evening to resume humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip, which came after repeated and continuous pledges by top officials, including by Defense Minister Israel Katz, not to do so until a new Hamas-circumventing aid mechanism was put in place.

Netanyahu ordered the immediate resumption of “basic” humanitarian aid into Gaza amid mounting US pressure to end a monthslong blockade. The move was approved during a security cabinet meeting at the recommendation of military officials who reportedly warned that food supplies belonging to the UN and aid groups had completely run out, creating an acute humanitarian crisis.

No vote was held among the ministers, many of whom opposed the step, which went against repeated pledges by senior officials in recent months that no aid would resume before a new mechanism was put in place to prevent Hamas from commandeering the supplies. The aid was set to renew via the previously used mechanisms for at least a week.

“Any humanitarian aid that enters the Strip… will fuel Hamas and give it oxygen while our hostages languish in tunnels,” lamented National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who earlier this year bolted the government over the announcement of a ceasefire-hostage deal, and then returned when fighting resumed.

“The prime minister is making a grave mistake with this move, which doesn’t even have a majority,” Ben Gvir argued in a statement. “We must crush Hamas and not simultaneously give it oxygen.”

In a separate post on X, Ben Gvir, who had demanded a security cabinet vote on the move and was refused, said: “Mr. Prime Minister, our hostages have no humanitarian [aid]!”

Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, of Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said: “This is our tragedy with Netanyahu’s approach. A leader who could have led to a clear victory and been remembered as the one who defeated radical Islam, but who time after time lets this historic opportunity slip away. Letting humanitarian aid in now directly harms the war effort to achieve victory and another obstacle to the release of the hostages.”

The Tikva Forum, which represents a hawkish group of families of hostages held in Gaza, said it was “shocked” by the decision “to give Hamas a gift without getting anything back, while our loved ones have been starved for almost 600 days.”

The forum urged Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to work against the step, adding: “If a drop of supplies gets to the enemy, this isn’t only a betrayal of the hostages, but also a stab in the back of the IDF fighters who are currently risking their lives in the war.”

There was no immediate response from Smotrich, who three weeks ago told the Makor Rishon newspaper: “If a single speck of humanitarian aid enters [Gaza] and reaches Hamas, I will be leaving the government. I can’t live with it… For me it’s a red line. I told the prime minister — I don’t agree, over my dead body. I won’t sit in the government for a single minute.”

Criticism of the move did come, however, from the ranks of Netanyahu’s own Likud party.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” said MK Avichai Boaron. “We mustn’t hand humanitarian aid to the enemy, we mustn’t hesitate.”

MK Moshe Saada contended that calling up five IDF divisions as part of an expanded offensive in Gaza while also allowing aid in that would help Hamas “is an incorrect and immoral decision.” He called for “totally eradicating Hamas and not helping it survive.”

Centrist leader Benny Gantz of the opposition accused Netanyahu of “hiding behind the IDF and the security establishment when making decisions that destabilize his coalition.”

“When it’s uncomfortable — ‘The IDF recommended.’ In successes — ‘I gave the order.’ This is a frightened leadership that is incapable of standing behind its own decisions, and national irresponsibility during wartime. Israeli citizens deserve a different leadership that knows how to stand before the public and speak the truth, even when it’s difficult,” added Gantz, who joined an emergency government early in the war and later left, accusing Netanyahu of flawed decision-making.

The Tzav 9 group, which had previously blocked aid trucks en route to Gaza, called on its activists to resume these actions.

“Netanyahu, this is on you. Hamas can’t be pampered and given aid until the last hostage is back here,” said the right-wing organization, which was sanctioned last year by the administration of then-US president Joe Biden before this was reversed by Donald Trump’s administration in January.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on Israel to allow the “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of aid to Gaza.

“After three months of diplomatic efforts, the Israeli government finally announces the reopening of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Barrot posted on X. “It must be immediate, massive and unhampered. It must put an end to the catastrophic humanitarian situation and definitively end the famine.”’

A new aid organization called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been established by the US in close coordination with Israel to manage aid distribution in a manner that prevents its diversion by Hamas. It has said it is planning to begin operating in Gaza by the end of the month, but Israel has yet to confirm this.

Through the GHF, aid will only be distributed from a small number of sites in southern Gaza that are secured by American contractors.

Aid organizations currently operating in Gaza have come out strongly against the GHF plan, arguing that it violates humanitarian principles, forces mass displacement of Palestinians who aren’t currently living near the humanitarian zone, ignores vulnerable populations, and doesn’t adequately address the humanitarian crisis.

GHF Executive Director Jake Wood welcomed Sunday’s aid resumption announcement as an “important interim step,” adding that it was “consistent with the commitment made to us to serve as a bridging mechanism until the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is fully operational.”

“Through the GHF, we are building a secure, transparent system to deliver aid directly and effectively — without diversion or delay and in strict adherence to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence,” he added.

Agencies contributed to this report.