The goal of the current expansion of the IDF’s operation in the Gaza Strip is for the IDF to take control of the entire territory in order prevent Hamas from looting humanitarian aid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Monday.
According to the prime minister, Sunday evening’s decision to allow humanitarian aid was the correct move, since without it Israel would lose the support of its “closest allies,” including US Senators who “support Israel unconditionally.”
“We cannot reach a situation of famine, neither professionally nor diplomatically,” the prime minister said. He explained that the new method of distribution will be “distribution points” secured by the IDF but with the aid itself provided by an American organization. However, the first such point will only be ready in a “few days”, Netanyahu said.
In the meantime, in a “bridging” move, Israel needed to let aid into the Strip, the prime minister said. He refrained from promising that the food entering the Strip until the distribution points were ready would not be looted by Hamas.
The prime minister added that the return of the hostages was paramount to what he called a “combined victory” over Hamas.
‘No aid will reach Hamas’
The video began and ended with the prime minister addressing other ministers and right-wing figures who criticized the entry of humanitarian aid. He called the criticism “natural” but said that his move revealed “leadership” since it was “unpopular.”
The video came a short time after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called in an impromptu press conference on the prime minister to “speak to the public” and “show leadership.”
“No aid will reach Hamas. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is simply lying,” Religious Zionist Party chairman and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said during a press conference on Monday.
“It will allow civilians to eat, our friends around the world to continue providing us with an international protection umbrella at the Security Council and The Hague, and us to keep fighting, God willing, until victory.”
“For two and a half months, we did not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, creating enormous pressure on Hamas — and rightly so. But pressure must be managed so it doesn’t explode on us.” He said.
He continued, “When the IDF resumed full efforts to conquer Gaza, moving civilians from areas with some remaining food, our great friends worldwide — those who support us and understand that we cannot stop just before complete victory and Hamas’s destruction — asked us to help them dispel starvation claims. We must do so. Without this, we cannot fight and win. This is not surrendering to pressure, but doing the right thing to stay focused on the main goal: destroying Hamas.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the decision to provide humanitarian aid and contradicted Smotrich’s statement that it would not reach Hamas. Ben-Gvir claimed that Netanyahu had prevented a vote in the cabinet on Monday evening because the measure may not have passed.
“The decision, which was made last night in a hasty manner, to renew aid to the entire Gaza Strip, is a serious and grave mistake,” Ben-Gvir said in a statement. “We must tell the truth to the public in the State of Israel: This aid, which reaches all parts of the Strip, will also fall into the hands of Hamas. That is the reason they refused my request for a vote. That is the reason they knew I had a majority to overturn this decision.
Throughout the past few months, I have strongly opposed allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. We need to explain to President Trump that this humanitarian aid endangers the lives of our soldiers. We must not give oxygen to our enemies,” Ben-Gvir said.
Criticism came from the opposition as well.
“The government’s decision to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza once again proves that the government of October 7 is still trapped in the mindset of October 6, with zero ability to withstand international pressure,” Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman said in a press conference ahead of his party’s weekly meeting on Monday.
“Saying that ‘aid is being delivered at the IDF’s recommendation’ is a cynical use of the IDF and our soldiers. Smotrich claims there is a ‘mechanism to prevent aid from reaching Hamas,’ but in reality, most of the aid will indeed reach Hamas, and the only real mechanism at play here is a mechanism of lies to the public,” Liberman said. “Anyone who watched Smotrich’s press conference can see that even if the Western Wall were handed over, he would remain in his seat and claim it was a step toward defeating Hamas,” Liberman said.
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