Palestinian displaced people crowd obtain meals from the Rafah charitable kitchen (Tekka), (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/ Flash90)
Netanyahu reportedly made the sudden decision under US pressure.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Right-wing politicians and groups lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for agreeing to resume the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu reportedly made the sudden decision under US pressure after the military communicated that humanitarian aid provided by the UN and other groups had entirely run out.
The security cabinet agreed with Netanyahu’s decision to send in “basic” humanitarian aid, a move that was staunchly criticized by several government ministers who weren’t given a chance to vote on the proposal.
Defense Minister Israel Katz had insisted that no humanitarian aid would be sent into the Gaza Strip until a mechanism was in place to prevent supplies from being apprehended by Hamas.
“Any humanitarian aid that enters Gaza…will strengthen Hamas and give it oxygen while our hostages languish in tunnels,” lamented National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who had left the government over a hostage-prisoner exchange agreement but joined once again when operations in Gaza resumed.
“The prime minister is making a serious mistake, which doesn’t even have a majority,” Ben Gvir said. “We must destroy Hamas and not simultaneously give it oxygen.”
Ben Gvir wrote on X, “Mr. Prime Minister, our hostages have no humanitarian aid.”
Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit party said: “Netanyahu’s approach is a tragedy. A leader who could have led us to a clear victory and been remembered as the one who defeated radical Islam, but who time after time lets this historic opportunity slip away. Transferring humanitarian aid now directly counteracts the war effort to achieve victory and is another obstacle to the release of the captives.”
The Tikva Forum, a group of hostage families who believe in military pressure as the only way to free their loved ones, expressed shock at the decision to “give Hamas a gift without getting anything back, while our loved ones have been starved for almost 600 days.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who on previous occasions called the transfer of humanitarian aid a “red line” and threatened to leave the government over such a policy, could not be reached for comment.
US President Donald Trump announced the formation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mechanism to transfer aid to Gaza while bypassing Hamas, which is expected to begin its operations by the end of the month.
Through the GHF, aid will only be distributed to a few sites in southern Gaza that American contractors secure.
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