Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday Israel would control the whole of Gaza despite mounting international pressure that pushed it to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine.
The Israeli military, which announced the start of a new operation on Friday, warned residents of the southern city of Khan Younis on Monday to evacuate to the coast immediately as it prepared “an unprecedented attack”.
Mr Netanyahu said in a video message Israel would achieve “complete victory” with both the release of the 58 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and the destruction of the Palestinian militant group.
Even as the military warned of the attack, Reuters reporters saw aid trucks heading towards northern Gaza after increasing global alarm forced Mr Netanyahu to lift a blockade imposed in March.
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Israel has said aid was being stolen by Hamas, a charge Hamas denies. European countries including France, Germany and Britain have said the situation in Gaza is intolerable, and even US support appears to be wavering.
A proposal to review the European Union’s trade agreement with Israel in light of its blockade is believed to have the support of up to 10 EU states.
France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and several other EU states have called for a review to determine if Israel has breached a clause in the agreement to uphold human rights.
It is understood Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, who chairs the meeting, will gauge support for the proposal when ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday.
The leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement on Monday warning that they will take “further concrete actions” if Israel does not stop the renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions.
The statement by British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney condemned Israel’s expansion of military operations in Gaza as “wholly disproportionate”, adding that the “level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable”.
The statement added: “We will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”
Mr Netanyahu said US senators he has known for years as supporters of Israel, “our best friends in the world”, were telling him the scenes of hunger were draining vital support and bringing Israel close to a “red line, to a point where we might lose control”.
“It is for that reason, in order to achieve victory, we have to somehow solve the problem,” he said, in a message apparently addressed to far-right hardliners in his government who have insisted aid be denied to Gaza.
The United Nations has long said Gaza needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day. The World Food Programme has said more than 116,000 metric tonnes of food – enough to feed one million people for up to four months – was standing ready to be brought in.
However, it remained unclear how much aid would be allowed in and how it would be distributed before the launch of a US-sponsored plan to employ private contractors to distribute aid, which the United Nations and other aid groups have rejected.
The Israeli military said five trucks had entered Gaza on Monday, although UN aid officials said nine trucks had been cleared to enter, a quantity UN aid chief Tom Fletcher described as “a drop in the ocean”.
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani said it would take time to create a situation where hundreds of trucks were able to enter daily but added: “I think that’s also a decision for the political echelon of how many will come in,” he told reporters.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days as the military campaign has intensified, with at least 40 people killed on Monday, according to local medical workers.
Sources on both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar.
Israel’s ground and air war has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities near Gaza’s border on October 7th, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
