Despite IDF and PMO denials, Israeli official confirms plan to resume Gaza aid
Report says military has told political leaders there’s ‘no choice’ but to resume aid deliveries, for fear of international consequences
An Israeli official on Monday confirmed to The Times of Israel that the IDF is planning to begin facilitating the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks, despite earlier denials from the Prime Minster’s Office and military.
The Ynet news site reported Monday morning that Israel will begin to allow some humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip to avoid international law violations and future legal problems for commanders who take part in the military operation.
“There is no starvation or no beginning of diseases in Gaza, but we are about 40-50 days away from a situation where the food warehouses will be emptied. Last week, there were incidents when Gazans broke into warehouses with flour we brought in and transferred them to Hamas control,” unnamed security sources were quoted as saying in the report.
The report said that the IDF “made it clear to the political leadership” that soon, there will be no choice but to resume the supply of food, fuel, and medicine to Gaza.
The Prime Minister’s Office swiftly denied the report, calling it “incorrect,” and said that the military “will continue to exert increasing pressure on Hamas to return our hostages and achieve all the goals of the war,” while operating “within the framework of international law.”
The IDF also responded to the report, saying that the military is “acting in accordance with the directives of the political leadership,” and insisting that “Israel is not and will not be providing any aid to Hamas.”
However, the IDF’s response was not a full denial, as it specified that Israel would not provide aid to Hamas instead of flatly saying that Israel would not provide any aid to Gaza as a whole.
This is in line with the statement from the Israeli official that confirmed the veracity of the report, which specified that the IDF is working on a pilot program through which aid will be re-allowed into Gaza but in a manner that will not allow Hamas to divert it.
The official added that one of the ideas being workshopped is for aid to only be allowed into specific enclaves that are guarded by private security contractors, but the plans have not yet been finalized.
Israel began barring all aid from entering Gaza after the first phase of a ceasefire in the Strip concluded on March 1. In recent days, there has been mounting evidence of a food shortage in Gaza.
Last Tuesday, the UN’s World Food Programme announced that all 25 WFP-supported bakeries in Gaza had shut down due to a lack of fuel and flour. The bakeries were the only source of fresh bread in the Gaza Strip.
Hot meals continue to be served, but supplies are expected to last no more than two weeks, according to the WFP.
In an earlier post, WFP said that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were “again at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition as humanitarian food stocks in the Strip dwindle and borders remain closed. Urgent access is needed to get aid into Gaza.”
Last week, a Gaza resident told The Times of Israel that the price of a sack of flour, which cost around NIS 50 ($13.50) a few weeks ago, during the ceasefire, has now reached NIS 600 ($81) due to the severe shortage.
The war in Gaza was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and 251 were seized as hostages.
Fifty-nine of the 251 hostages remain in captivity, of whom 24 are still alive, according to Israeli intelligence assessments. Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong truce in November 2023, and during the recent ceasefire, Hamas released 30 living hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers, and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 50,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Nurit Yohanan contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.