Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to authorise a sweeping military takeover of Gaza City, even as he signals a return to negotiations with Hamas. The move, expected within days, comes at a moment of growing international alarm over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
On Thursday night, the Israeli prime minister said his government would pursue “two parallel goals: defeating Hamas and securing the release of all our hostages.” He added: “These two things go hand in hand.”
The announcement follows weeks of heavy bombardment. Israeli forces have already advanced into Gaza’s Zeitoun district and Jabaliya refugee camp. Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed that “the gates of hell will open” on Hamas unless the group accepts Israel’s conditions — which include disarmament and the release of hostages.
But Gaza is also sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of them displaced from earlier fighting. Aid agencies warn that a full assault on the city would deepen what the United Nations describes as a “manufactured famine.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), accused Israel of weaponising hunger. “It is deliberate. Food has been used as an instrument of war,” he said this week. He warned that many children already weakened by malnutrition “will not survive” another mass displacement.
British officials echoed the alarm. Hamish Falconer, a minister at the Foreign Office, called the situation “horrifying” and demanded that Israel “immediately and permanently lift all barriers preventing aid reaching the people of Gaza.”
Despite Israeli claims that more than 250 aid trucks entered the territory on Thursday, humanitarian groups say supplies remain far below what is needed. According to the World Health Organisation, the number of Gaza’s children suffering acute wasting — a severe form of malnutrition — nearly doubled in June, with more than 2,500 in critical condition.
The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 133 people, including 25 children, died from starvation in the first 20 days of August — more than in the previous 22 months of war combined. Israel disputes those figures, claiming many of the deaths were linked to pre-existing medical conditions.
Meanwhile, discontent is growing at home. Families of hostages held in Gaza have staged protests in Tel Aviv, urging the government to prioritise a deal over military escalation. “Enough sacrificing the hostages. Enough sacrificing the soldiers,” said Bar Goddard, whose father’s body remains in Hamas custody.
The political stakes are also high. Netanyahu’s government has drawn fierce criticism abroad for advancing settlement projects in the occupied West Bank. This week, Britain and more than 20 other countries condemned the plans as “a flagrant breach of international law.” The United Nations warned the move “will drive a stake through the heart of the two-state solution.”
For now, the focus remains on Gaza City. With Israeli reservists already mobilised and airstrikes continuing, both sides face a choice: escalation, or the faint chance of talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Whether those talks can halt a new offensive — or arrive too late for Gaza’s starving population — may become clear in the coming days.
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