Netanyahu convenes ministers on new a Gaza offensive

5/5/2025 5:49

Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday

to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible

resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government

officials said.



In a video message posted on the social media platform X on

Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the

Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main

gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the

security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.



It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at

the meeting, but the military has already begun issuing tens of

thousands of call-up orders for its reserve forces, looking to

expand the Gaza campaign, its chief said on Sunday.



"We are increasing the pressure with the goal of returning

our people (hostages) and defeating Hamas," Lieutenant General

Eyal Zamir told troops, according to a statement from the army.



Already in control of around a third of Gaza's territory,

Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid

blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a

U.S.-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.



Ministers have defended the blockade by saying that Hamas

has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own

fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied. At the same

time, Israel has faced warnings of famine in Gaza as supplies

run low.



The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), a forum that includes

U.N. agencies, said on Sunday that Israeli officials were

seeking its consent to deliver aid through what it described as

"Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once

the government agrees to re-open crossings".



In its statement, HCT said such a plan would be

dangerous and would "contravene fundamental humanitarian

principles and appears designed to reinforce control over

life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a

military strategy."



Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new

plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by

private foreign companies, rather than U.N. agencies, in a new

designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah,

to which civilians would be moved after security checks.







AID DEBATE



New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday's security cabinet

meeting, two officials said.



Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership

and defence establishment for months. The military has pushed

back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize

Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.



Zamir, who took office in March, has stuck to the position

of his predecessor and the former defence minister.



He told ministers last month that Israeli troops would not

distribute aid and that he would not allow starvation in Gaza,

angering hardliners, including Finance Minister Bezalel

Smotrich, who had hoped for a more aggressive approach.



Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the

Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, according

to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the

deadliest day for Israel in its history.



The campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians,

according to local health authorities and devastated the Gaza

Strip, leaving its 2.3 million population depending on aid

supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.