Netanyahu is under pressure from his far-right allies to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. [Screengrab /YouTube]
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he expected to seize control of Gaza City “fairly quickly”, contradicting military officials who say that the operation will take at least six months.
Netanyahu, speaking after his security cabinet on Friday approved the much-criticised plan, said he had no choice but to “complete the job” and defeat Hamas to free captives seized from Israel.
He said the new Gaza offensive aimed to tackle two remaining Hamas strongholds in what he said was his only option because of the Palestinian group’s refusal to lay down its arms. Hamas says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established.
It was not clear when the offensive, which would be the latest in successive attempts by the Israeli military to clear the militants from Gaza City, would begin.
“The timeline that we set for the action is fairly quickly. We want, first of all, to enable safe zones to be established so the civilian population of Gaza City can move out,” he added.
The city, home to a million people before the two-year-old war, would be forcibly displaced into so-called “safe zones”, he said. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Al-Mawasi “safe zone” since 2024, killing hundreds of displaced Palestinians.
Israel’s military chief has voiced opposition to occupying the entire Gaza Strip and has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger the lives of captives Hamas is still holding and draw its troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.
Netanyahu is also under heavy pressure from his far-right coalition partners, who are demanding that Israel annex the entire territory and expel the Palestinians.
Members of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s extremist Religious Zionism party are reportedly threatening to quit the coalition and trigger fresh elections unless Netanyahu orders an expanded offensive to capture the whole of Gaza.
The prime minister and his ministers have repeatedly vowed to occupy the territory in recent months, but in Sunday’s press conference Netanyahu claimed that this will not be the military’s plan in the coming offensive.
“We want a security belt right next to our border, but we don’t want to stay in Gaza. That’s not our purpose,” he claimed.
European representatives at the United Nations said famine was unfolding in Gaza and Israel’s plan would only make things worse.
“Expanding military operations will only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and result in further unnecessary suffering,” Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement.
“This is a manmade crisis, and therefore urgent action is needed to halt starvation and to surge aid into Gaza,” they said.
Malnutrition is widespread in the enclave due to what international aid agencies say is a deliberate plan by Israel to restrict aid. Israel rejects that allegation, blaming Hamas for the hunger among Palestinians and saying a lot of aid has been distributed.
Starvation
Five more people, including two children, died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said, taking the number of deaths from such causes to 217, including 100 children.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said a further 23 people had been killed so far in the war by airdrops of aid which countries have resorted to due to the difficulties of getting aid in by road.
In the latest case, a parachuted aid box killed a 14-year-old boy awaiting food with other desperate Palestinians at a tent encampment in central Gaza, according to medics and video verified by Reuters.
“We have repeatedly warned of the dangers of these inhumane methods and have consistently called for the safe and sufficient delivery of aid through land crossings, especially food, infant formula, medicines, and medical supplies,” it said.
Italy said Israel should heed its own army’s warnings before sending more troops into Gaza, where the Israeli military already holds large parts of the territory.
“The invasion of Gaza risks turning into a Vietnam for Israeli soldiers,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview with daily Il Messaggero.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,430 Palestinians since 7 October 2023, according to health officials, and left much of the territory in ruins. Some 153,213 others have been wounded in Israeli attacks.
(Reuters and TNA staff)
