Smotrich blasts IDF’s ‘delusional announcement’ of pause in fighting on key Gaza road to increase aid flow
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich slams the IDF’s “delusional announcement” that it has begun to implement daily humanitarian pauses in fighting on a key road in the southern Gaza Strip to enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to Palestinians.
In a tweet, the far-right minister complains that “the ‘humanitarian aid’ that continues to reach Hamas keeps it in power and may pour the achievements of the war down the drain.
“The manner in which the humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip is being managed, in the framework of which aid goes largely to Hamas and helps it to continue civilian control of the Strip in direct contradiction to the goals of the war, has been bad throughout the last few months,” he argues — adding that he had repeatedly warned that “this is one of the reasons for the continuation of the war and the resounding strategic failure” of the war effort.
“The [IDF] chief of staff and the defense minister have for six months been firmly refusing the only way that will allow victory, which is the occupation of the Strip and the establishment of a temporary military government there until the complete destruction of Hamas, and unfortunately Prime Minister Netanyahu is either unwilling or unable to force this on them,” he says.
“So what is the problem with this announcement, which yesterday they worked for half a day in the General Staff and COGAT to make every word precise, and today, five minutes after its publication, the IDF is required to retract and clarify?! The problem is that the General Staff is completely disconnected from the existence of the forces in the field [if] it is able to issue such a message on a day when we are burying 11 of our best warriors,” he adds.
Smotrich’s comments come after the IDF stated that “a local, tactical pause of military activity for humanitarian purposes will take place from 08:00 until 19:00 every day until further notice along the road that leads from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then further north.”
The military said in a separate, follow-up statement that it “clarifies that there is no suspension of fighting in the southern Gaza Strip and the fighting in Rafah continues.”
Smotrich, who is a member of the security cabinet but not the smaller war cabinet, has been involved in an ongoing feud with the defense establishment, clashing over budgets and arguing against the wartime appointment of senior officers.