Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under pressure from all sides Sunday as his controversial plan for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip drew backlash at home and internationally, while malnutrition deaths in the Palestinian enclave continued to climb.
The proposed military offensive, which the Israeli government announced Friday, has been widely condemned by critics who say it is likely to worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and further endanger the hostages still being held by Hamas.
At a news conference, a defiant Netanyahu continued to deny there is starvation in Gaza and claimed the situation is being exaggerated. He conceded there was “deprivation” in Gaza, but said “no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war” if Israel was implementing a “starvation policy.”
He went on to defend the proposed Gaza takeover, saying Israel had “no choice” but to “finish the job” and “defeat Hamas,” while claiming that “hundreds of aid trucks have gone into Gaza.”
Netanyahu said his goal was to rescue the remaining hostages and recover the remains of those who had died. Of the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas, Israel believes about 20 are alive.
“If we don’t do anything, we are not going to get them out,” he said. “The move I’m talking about has the possibility of getting them out.”
Netanyahu’s remarks came as the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss Israel’s proposed offensive. The United States said at the meeting that Israel had the right to defend itself and to decide what is necessary for its security.
The plan was condemned by other Western governments, as well as U.N. officials who said it would only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where humanitarian aid has been limited since Israel lifted a 2½-month blockade in May.
“This is no longer a looming hunger crisis — this is starvation, pure and simple,” a U.N. humanitarian coordination official, Ramesh Rajasingham, told the council.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that five more people, including two children, had died from malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 217, including 100 children.
The U.N. and other international organizations say the humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza through airdrops and on a small number of trucks is far from sufficient to feed the enclave’s population of 2 million people.
On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy named Muhannad Eid died after being struck by an aid package that was airdropped over Gaza, his brother, Muhammad Eid, said.
“This is an aerial humiliation, not aid,” Muhammad Eid said. “We need protection. We want international protection.”
With the latest death, 23 people have now been killed during aid drops since the Israel-Hamas war began 22 months ago, according to the Gaza government media office.
“We have repeatedly warned of the danger of these inhumane methods and have repeatedly called for the safe and adequate entry of aid through land crossings,” it said in a statement.
According to local health officials, more than 61,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed since Israel began its military campaign Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel. During that attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
There is strong opposition in Israel to the expansion of Gaza military operations, with thousands of people calling for an immediate ceasefire at protests Saturday night in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
But for some far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition government, the plan isn’t tough enough.
Foreign Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed for Israel to impose sovereignty over Gaza, called it a “foolish” half-measure, saying in a video message Saturday night that he did not support it.
Smotrich said the proposed offensive was intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire, and that instead Israel needed a “sharp, clear path” to victory over Hamas.
The dissatisfaction expressed by Smotrich, who said he had “lost faith” in the prime minister, threatens to destabilize Netanyahu’s fragile coalition.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid seized on the opportunity, calling on Smotrich to join him in advancing a bill to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
“In your own words, you admitted that the prime minister’s policy is not leading to a decisive outcome in Gaza, is not returning our hostages, and is not winning the war,” Lapid said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel. “You also added that you can no longer stand behind the prime minister and back him up.”
The plan outlines five goals for ending the war: Disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, taking security control of the area, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
Those preparations are expected to take weeks or months, a delay that hard-liners in the Israeli government fear could leave room for a diplomatic solution that would undermine their objectives.
Experts have questioned whether the plan would protect Israelis, or work at all.
Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, said it was full of “hollow slogans.”
“There is a very common slogan: ‘We will release the hostages and defeat Hamas at the same time,’” he said. “You can’t do both simultaneously. Hamas will execute them, or the IDF itself could in the bombing.”
There are also questions as to who would run Gaza long term. Netanyahu said he intends to hand control of the territory to “Arab forces,” adding Sunday that “several candidates” are being looked at for the establishment of a new “transitional authority.”
He has not specified who that could be, aside from saying it would not be Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
“That leaves nobody,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “No Arab country is going to be Israel’s enforcer on the ground.”
