Israel’s plan to expand its Gaza offensive, displace people within the enclave and take control of aid distribution has horrified Gazans who have already suffered multiple displacements and severe food shortages for nearly 19 months.
Israel has been blocking all aid from entering Gaza since March 2, when a two-month ceasefire with Hamas, which had improved Gazans’ access to food and medicine and allowed many of them to go home, fell apart.
Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City, said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.
“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry and thirsty.”
Attending a funeral on Monday for several people killed in an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza City, Mohammed Al-Seikaly said things were so dire it was hard to comprehend Israel’s plans to intensify its assault.
“There is nothing left in the Gaza Strip that has not been struck by missiles and explosive barrels, and there are still threats to expand the operation,” he said.
“I’m asking in front of the whole world, what’s left to bomb?”
On Tuesday, Israeli military strikes killed at least 37 Palestinians across Gaza, local health authorities said. Medics said at least 17 people, including women and children, were killed at a school housing displaced families in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said it had struck “terrorists” operating from a command centre that they used to store weapons and plan and stage attacks against Israel.
Military expansion not a solution: father of hostage
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the expanded military operation would be “intensive” and involve holding seized territories and moving Palestinians “for their own safety.”
Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. One person was arrested after hundreds of people protested outside the parliament on Monday as the government opened for its summer session.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.
“I don’t see the expansion of the war as a solution — it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from a year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Israel has approved a plan to intensify military operations against Hamas by seizing Gaza, establishing new bases and staying for an unspecified amount of time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the population of Gaza will be moved to the south.
The father is pinning some hopes on U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don’t plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump’s visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal.
Trump isn’t expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American Israeli held in Gaza, who is still believed to be alive.
Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the Israeli plan.
“We hope it’s merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it’s unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.
Dearth of food in Gaza
Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in a desperate attempt to bring food to their families.
“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There’s no food, no flour, nothing.”
One Israeli official said the plan would involve moving the civilian population southward and controlling aid distribution to prevent food from falling into the hands of Hamas. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Tuesday rejected the plan as “the opposite of what is needed.”
Children in Gaza are showing signs of acute malnutrition as Israel’s blockade on food and medicine stretches into its third month. Aid efforts are faltering, and with supplies nearly gone, the UN warns famine has already begun.
Gaza’s 2.3 million people are struggling with a dearth of food, with many eating only once a day. The World Food Program said on April 25 it had run out of food stocks in the Strip.
Nidal Abu Helal, a displaced man from Rafah who works at the charity, said the group is increasingly concerned that people, especially children, will die of starvation.
“We’re not afraid of dying from missiles,” he said. “We’re afraid that our children will die of hunger in front of us.”
Some residents have been eating weeds or leaves, while fishermen have turned to catching sea turtles and selling their meat.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group running Gaza since 2007, accuses Israel of “using food as a weapon in its war against the people of Gaza.”
The war was triggered by Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israel’s tallies.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to local health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to ruins.
