Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under pressure from all sides on Sunday as Gaza City robbed his controversial plans to rebel within his government and on Israeli streets, and malnutrition deaths in the Gaza Strip continued to climb.
At a press conference on Sunday, the rebellious Netanyahu continued to deny that there is hunger in Gaza, claiming the situation is being exaggerated. Netanyahu admitted that Gaza had been “deprived,” but said that if Israel had implemented a “starvedic policy,” “no one in Gaza would have survived.”
Netanyahu claimed that Israel had “hundreds of aid trucks entered Gaza,” but said Israel had “no option” other than “finishing work” and “defeating Hamas.”
However, his critics on the left say that the new military attack he proposed will exacerbate Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and put even more risky of the hostages Hamas still holds. The protests calling for an immediate ceasefire drew thousands of people in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday night.
And for far-right members of Netanyahu’s Union government, the plan is not strict enough.
Foreign Minister Bezarel Smotrich, who pushed Israel to impose sovereignty on Gaza, called it a “silly” half major in a video message on Saturday night, saying in a video message he didn’t support it.
Smotrich said the proposed attack was intended to pressure Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire, and instead Israel needed a “sharp and clear path” to victory over Hamas.
The grievances expressed by Smotrich told the prime minister he “lost his faith” but threatened to destabilise Netanyahu’s vulnerable coalition.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid seized the opportunity and called on Smotrich to join him, dissolve the parliament and move the bill forward to hold a new election.
“In your own words, you acknowledge that the Prime Minister’s policies have not led to a decisive outcome in Gaza, have not returned our hostages and have not won the war,” Rapid said in a statement. “You also added that you can’t stand behind the Prime Minister and can’t back him up.”
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting later on Sunday to discuss Israel’s proposed attacks.
James Kariuki, the UK’s deputy permanent representative of the United Nations, called on Israel to reverse the decision, saying the plan “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
It comes amid the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, where humanitarian assistance is limited since Israel lifted its two and a half months of lockdown in May.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday that five more people, including two children, have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 217, including 100 children.
World Health Organization’s Tedros Adhanom Gebrees said Thursday that 29 people in Gaza, including at least 99 people under the age of five, have died of malnutrition this year.
The UN and other international organizations say humanitarian aid, which arrived in Gaza with drops of air and a handful of trucks, is not enough to feed the enclave’s two million population.
On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy named Muhannad Eid died after being attacked by aid package floating in Gaza.
“This is air humiliation, not aid,” Eid said. “We need protection. We need international protection.”
According to the Gaza government’s media office, the latest death has killed 23 people in the Air Force since the Israel-Hamas War began 22 months ago.
“We have repeatedly warned of the dangers of these inhumane methods and repeatedly called for the intrusion of safe and appropriate aid through land intersections,” the statement said.
More than 61,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed in terrorist attacks against Israel, local health officials say since the war began on October 7, 2023. During the attack, Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and acquiring 251 others.
Israel believes that of the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas, around 20 are alive. Hostage supporters and Netanyahu’s Army Chief of War have warned that expanding military operations could put lives at risk.
The plan announced by the Netanyahu government on Friday outlines five goals to end the war. Disarming Hamas, reviving all hostages, condemnation of Gaza, regional security controls, and “establish an alternative civil administration without Hamas or Palestinian authorities.”
These preparations are expected to take weeks or months. This means that the terrifying hardliners of the Israeli government could leave room for diplomatic solutions that undermine their goals.
Experts also question whether the plan protects Israelis or whether it works at all.
Michael Millstein, director of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Dayan Centre at Tel Aviv University, said the plan was full of “hollow slogans.”
“There’s a very common slogan: “We’ll release the hostages and defeat Hamas at the same time,” he said. “You can’t do both at the same time. Hamas either do them, or the IDF itself can be bombed.”
Netanyahu said on Sunday that his goal is to bring hostages to life and restore the bodies of dead people.
“If we don’t do anything, we’re not going to put them out,” he said. “The movements I’m talking about can bring them out.”
There are also questions about who will run Gaza in the long term. Netanyahu said he handed over the territory against the “Arab forces” and added that “several candidates” were considering establishing a new “transition authority.”
He does not specify who it is, except that it is not an authority in Hamas or Palestinians.
“No one leaves that behind,” said Hahelier, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “The Arab state will not become Israel’s enforcers on earth.”
