Israel to allow food into Gaza after two month blockade

Kathmandu: Israel’s prime minister’s office has said Israel will allow a “basic amount” of food into the Gaza Strip,  after facing mounting pressure to lift a total blockade imposed more than two months ago.

The announcement came hours after the military said it had begun “extensive ground operations” in a newly intensified campaign in Gaza, and as Israel and Hamas engaged in indirect talks on a deal to potentially halt the fighting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that at the military’s recommendation Israel will authorise the entry of a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip. Such a crisis would jeopardise the army’s new operation, it said, adding Israel would “act to prevent Hamas from seizing this humanitarian aid.’

Israel said its blockade since March 2 was aimed at forcing concessions from the Palestinian militant group, but UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines. Last week US President Donald Trump, a critical ally, acknowledged that “a lot of people are starving”, adding “we’re going to get that taken care of”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on Israel following the latest announcement, to allow the “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of aid. Israel’s military announced on Sunday that troops begun extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip and were currently being deployed in key positions.

The ramped-up campaign, which Israel says aims to free hostages and defeat Hamas, started Saturday as the two sides entered indirect talks in Qatar on a deal. Netanyahu’s office said negotiators Doha were working to exhaust every possibility for a deal whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting

Steve Witkoff is the US Middle East envoy who has been involved in discussions. Netanyahu’s statement said a deal “would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip. Since a two-month ceasefire collapsed in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to make a breakthrough.

PM Netanyahu opposed ending the war without Hamas’s total defeat, while Hamas has balked at handing over its weapons. A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said the group was willing “to release all Israeli hostages in one batch, provided that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire agreement is reached but Israel wants to release its prisoners in one batch or in two batches in exchange for a temporary truce.

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said the military would “provide flexibility to the political echelon to advance any hostage deal”.  ‘A hostage deal is not a halt, it is an achievement. We are actively working toward it, ‘said Zamir.

Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel on Sunday afternoon and the army said one of two projectiles launched from Gaza had been intercepted. The military later issued an evacuation order for several parts of Gaza ahead of an attack, warning it would launch a powerful strike on any area used for launching rockets.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP at least 50 people had been killed as of Sunday afternoon “as a result of ongoing Israeli air strikes since the early hours”. He said 22 people died and at least 100 others were wounded in one attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to an AFP tally based on official figures, Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians,

Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead. Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,339.

RSS/AFP