IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir will not allow IDF soldiers to participate in distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, N12 reported Sunday evening.
“I am not willing to hear about it,” Zamir stated during a limited security discussion. “Soldiers will secure the humanitarian area and allow international organizations to distribute it without it reaching Hamas—that we will do. Soldiers distributing food to Gazans—that we will not do. Period. I will not endanger soldiers to distribute water and bread to an incited and hungry crowd.”
Sources present at the discussion told N12 that Zamir “set a fact” and “left no room for political discussion.” Some sources stated that Zamir was expressing himself “firmly,” while others referred to it as “confrontational.”
The IDF Spokesperson’s Office did not respond to the report, N12 commented.
The statement comes amid likely growing tensions between the political echelons and the army chief, N12 added.
Tens of thousands of IDF reservists called up
Cabinet ministers are expected to approve the expansion of military activity in Gaza after the IDF called up tens of thousands of reservists starting on Sunday.
The move was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and is expected to be formally approved by the security cabinet on Sunday.
Despite the mass call-up, the numbers will still fall far below the call-up of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in October 2023 after the massacre.
The Jerusalem Post also confirmed Saturday that two US companies, Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, are expected to handle food aid distribution in Gaza.
On Friday, Zamir publicly stated that his position on aid to Gaza is that the IDF cannot allow Palestinian civilians to starve, but cannot be directly involved in distributing food aid, and also won’t permit Hamas to control it.
As such, international groups and private companies should distribute food aid, though Zamir believes in leaving the choice of which groups to the political echelon.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.
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