Israel set to order new Gaza war plan
Netanyahu was expected to meet security chiefs in Jerusalem to issue new orders, even as Israel's diplomats convened a UN Security Council meeting in New York to highlight the plight of Israelis held in Gaza.
The timing of the security meeting has not been officially confirmed. Netanyahu said Monday that it would be 'in the coming days.'
Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said Netanyahu would meet the army chief of staff, and the defense and army ministers. Unnamed senior officials told Israeli media he intends to order the re-occupation of Gaza.
'Netanyahu wants the Israeli army to conquer the entire Gaza Strip,' said a report on public broadcaster Kan.
'Several cabinet members who spoke with the prime minister confirmed that he has decided to extend the fight to areas where hostages might be held.'
The private daily Maariv declared: 'The die is cast. We're en route for the total conquest of Gaza.'
While the reconquest plan has not been officially confirmed, it has already drawn an angry response from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza's government, which insisted it will not shift its position on ceasefire talks.
Desperate families
After 22 months of combat sparked by the October 7, 2023 cross-border attacks by Hamas that killed 1,219 people and saw hundreds kidnapped, the Israeli army has devastated large parts of the Palestinian territory.
More than 60,933 Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry, and humanitarian agencies have warned that the territory's 2.4 million people are slipping into a catastrophic famine.
But Netanyahu is under pressure on several fronts.
Domestically, the desperate and vocal families of the 49 remaining hostages are demanding a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home.
Around the world, humanitarians are pushing for a truce to allow in food to the starving, and several European capitals have announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood, despite fierce US and Israeli opposition.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's far-right allies in his ruling coalition want to seize the opportunity of the war to reoccupy Gaza and tighten control of the occupied West Bank.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was in New York, where Israel's US ally was helping organize a Security Council meeting to focus world attention on the fate of the hostages rather than the looming famine -- which Israeli spokespeople insist is an exaggerated threat.
The defense ministry civil affairs agency for the Palestinian territories, COGAT, said Tuesday that Israel will partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza to reduce its reliance on UN and aid agency convoys and international military airdrops.
'As part of formulating the mechanism, a limited number of local merchants were approved by the defense establishment, subject to several criteria and strict security screening,' COGAT said.
Israel has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza for 22 months and imposed a total blockade on March 2, partially lifted in May to allow a US-backed private agency to open food distribution centers.
Aid convoys and airdrops by Arab and European militaries resumed last month, as UN-mandated expert reports warned famine was unfolding in the war-torn territory.
The COGAT statement said private sector deliveries would be paid for by monitored bank transfers and be subject to inspections by the Israeli military before entering Gaza, 'to prevent the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organization.'
Staple foods
Permitted goods under the new mechanism will include food staples, fruit, vegetables, baby formula and hygiene products, COGAT said.
On Monday. Netanyahu insisted Israel's war goals remained 'the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.'
His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war, arguing that Israel has already scored a military victory and should seek to negotiate the hostages' release.
The families of the hostages are also horrified by talk of escalation, accusing the government of putting their relatives in renewed danger, even as Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad release propaganda videos showing emaciated captives.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Three-quarters of UN members support Palestinian statehood
PARIS: Three-quarters of UN members have already or soon plan to recognize Palestinian statehood, with Australia on Monday becoming the latest to promise it will at the UN General Assembly in September. The Israel-Hamas war, raging in Gaza since the Palestinian militant group's attack on October 7, 2023, has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own. The action breaks with a long-held view that Palestinians could only gain statehood as part of a negotiated peace with Israel. According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, including France, Canada and Britain. Here is a quick recap of the Palestinians' quest for statehood: On November 15, 1988, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising against Israeli rule, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He made the announcement in Algiers at a meeting of the exiled Palestinian National Council, which adopted the two-state solution as a goal, with independent Israeli and Palestinian states existing side-by-side. Minutes later, Algeria became the first country to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state. Within a week, dozens of other countries, including much of the Arab world, India, Turkiye, most of Africa and several central and eastern European countries followed suit. The next wave of recognitions came in late 2010 and early 2011, at a time of crisis for the Middle East peace process. South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil and Chile, answered calls by the Palestinians to endorse their statehood claims. This came in response to Israel's decision to end a temporary ban on Jewish settlement-building in the occupied West Bank. In 2011, with peace talks at a standstill, the Palestinians pushed ahead with a campaign for full UN membership. The quest failed, but in a groundbreaking move on October 31 of that year, the UN cultural agency UNESCO voted to accept the Palestinians as a full member, much to the dismay of Israel and the United States. In November 2012, the Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the United Nations in New York after the General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to 'non-member observer state.' Three years later, the International Criminal Court also accepted the Palestinians as a state party. Israel's offensive in Gaza after the October 7, 2023 attack has boosted support for Palestinian statehood. Four Caribbean countries (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Bahamas) and Armenia took the diplomatic step in 2024. So did four European countries: Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia, the latter three EU members. Within the European Union, this was a first in 10 years since Sweden's move in 2014, which resulted in years of strained relations with Israel. Other member states, such as Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, had already done so in 1988, long before joining the EU. On the other hand, some former Eastern bloc countries, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, do not or no longer recognize a state of Palestine. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that 'Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own' at the UN General Assembly. France said last month it intends to recognize a Palestinian state come September, while Britain said it would do the same unless Israel takes 'substantive steps,' including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza. Canada also plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, marking a dramatic policy shift that was immediately rejected by Israel. Among other countries that could also formally express recognition, Malta, Finland and Portugal have raised the possibility.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel targets journalists' tent in Gaza, killing seven including Anas al-Sharif
The Israeli army targeted a tent full of journalists in front of Al-Shifa Hospital west of Gaza City on Sunday evening, killing seven inside, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported. The Israeli army admitted to killing journalist Anas al-Sharif in an airstrike on Gaza City on Monday, accusing him of leading a Hamas cell. Palestinian media confirmed the bombing of the press tent and the death toll. The government media office in Gaza said that the incident brings the total number of journalists killed due to Israeli bombing since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip to 237. According to Reporters Without Borders, nearly 200 journalists have been killed during the 20-month war, at least 45 of them while carrying out their duties. The organization accuses Israel of imposing a 'media blockade' on Gaza by preventing foreign journalists from entering and imposing strict censorship on information. Since the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel has not allowed any media crews to enter the Gaza Strip. It has allowed a limited number of media outlets, whose correspondents were carefully selected, to enter the Strip on tours supervised by the Israeli military, with coverage subject to strict military censorship. International media outlets rely on local journalists from Gaza to cover Israel's 22-month-old war. Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israeli attacks and military operations have killed at least 61,430 people, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Strip. The United Nations considers these figures reliable. The war in the Gaza Strip erupted following an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Al Jazeera Says 5 Journalists Killed in Gaza, Israel Accuses al-Sharif of Heading Hamas Cell
Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday. The Israeli military admitted in a statement to targeting Anas al-Sharif, the reporter it labelled as a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas. The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in the 22-month war in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs. "Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City," the broadcaster said. "Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on Sunday after a tent for journalists outside the main gate of the hospital was hit. The well-known Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reportedly extensively from northern Gaza." The channel said that five of its staff members were killed during the strike on a tent in Gaza City, listing the others as Mohammed Qreiqeh along with camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. The Israeli military confirmed that it had carried out the attack, saying it had struck Al Jazeera's al-Sharif and calling him a "terrorist" who "posed as a journalist". "A short while ago, in Gaza City, the IDF struck the terrorist Anas Al-Sharif, who posed as a journalist for the Al Jazeera network," it said on Telegram, using an acronym for the military. "Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops," it added.
