Key allies call escalation \u2018egregious\u2019 and promise \u2018concrete\u2019 response if Israel does not end renewed offensive and allow aid into strip<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will \u201ctake control\u201d of all of Gaza, as three key allies attacked his \u201cegregious\u201d escalation of the military campaign and blockade on humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain, France and Canada<\/a> attacked Israel\u2019s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as \u201cintolerable\u201d and threatened a \u201cconcrete\u201d response if Israel\u2019s campaign continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier that day, Israel\u2019s military declared an entire city a combat zone, airstrikes killed more than 60 people, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel\u2019s army would \u201cwipe out\u201d what remains of Palestinian Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d the three allied governments said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu responded to the message, saying Israel will continue to defend itself until total victory was achieved. \u201cThe leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities,\u201d Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n International pressure over a looming famine forced the Israeli prime minister to announce on Sunday night that he would ease the 11-week siege of Gaza<\/a> to prevent a \u201cstarvation crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly 24 hours later the UN said nine trucks of aid had been cleared to enter. This is less than 2% of daily shipments before the war, when Palestinians in Gaza were well fed and the strip had its own agricultural sector, and will make no meaningful difference to the crisis now gripping most of its 2.3 million population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Britain, France<\/a> and Canada described Israeli measures as \u201cwholly inadequate\u201d, warned it risked breaching international law and called for \u201ca return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu\u2019s decision to allow even a trickle of food in to Gaza had been attacked by far-right critics including members of his own cabinet. On Monday he shared a video on social media explaining his hand had been forced by close allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For weeks, Israeli officials insisted that there were \u201cno shortages\u201d in Gaza. But \u201csenators\u201d who are Israel\u2019s \u201cgreatest friends in the world\u201d had warned they would drop support for the country over images of starving Palestinians, Netanyahu said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[They told me]: \u2018We cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger. We cannot stand that. We will not be able to support you,\u2019\u201d Netanyahu said. He added that deepening desperation inside Gaza was taking Israel towards a \u201cred line, to a point where we might lose control\u201d,without clarifying what he was referring to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He did not name his critical \u201cfriends\u201d, but last week at the end of trip around the region \u2013 which did not include a stop in Israel \u2013 Donald Trump said \u201ca lot of people are starving\u201d in the strip<\/a>, and claimed he would \u201ctake care\u201d of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After he secured the release of a dual US-Israeli national hostage from Hamas last week, there had been hopes the US president would broker a lasting ceasefire for the entire strip. Instead, Israel launched a new ground offensive inside Gaza<\/a> almost immediately after he left the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heavy bombardments killed hundreds of Palestinians over the weekend. Strikes also targeted the strip\u2019s battered hospitals, bringing the total toll from the war inside Gaza to 53,486, most of them civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip,\u201d Netanyahu said in a video posted on Telegram on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Israeli military declared all of central Khan Younis city a \u201ccombat zone\u201d, ordering civilians to leave. Most have been displaced repeatedly, are weakened by hunger and with much of the strip in ruins have nowhere to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smotrich, a far-right critic of any negotiated end to the war, defended Netanyahu\u2019s decision to let in \u201cbasic\u201d food aid, saying it would allow Israel to keep its military in Gaza for a campaign of destruction and displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow we conquer, cleanse and stay \u2013 until Hamas<\/a> is destroyed,\u201d he told a news conference. \u201cAlong the way, what remains of the strip is also being wiped out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs part of the war, the IDF is moving the population out of combat zones \u2026 The population will reach the south of the strip, and from there, with God\u2019s help, move to third countries under President Trump\u2019s plan<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Netanyahu claims a military justification for the blockade on Gaza, claiming Hamas steals food aid from humanitarian agencies and the UN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There has been looting of warehouses by armed groups in Gaza, particularly as hunger deepened, but Israeli officials have not published data on how much aid is stolen, or given any examples of supply chains compromised by Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Humanitarian organisations with decades of experience working in conflict zones and heavily audited supply chains say their aid is not being diverted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel wants to replace their networks across Gaza with central distribution compounds secured by the Israeli military and operated by armed contractors who will hand out aid in boxes to those who able to walk and carry it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Swiss-registered start-up, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which Israeli officials describe as a \u201cUS initiative\u201d, will manage the compounds when they are operational. Its director, Jake Woods, a former US marine, said the GHF would be \u201cup and running before the end of the month\u201d, but it is not clear who will pay for the aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The UN and international humanitarian groups who have brought food into Gaza since the war began have said they will not work with GHF, because its armed contractors and links to the Israeli military compromise key principles including neutrality and put staffers at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli foreign ministry officials declined to comment on funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel launched the war after cross-border attacks by Hamas killed 1,200 people, the majority civilians. Another 250 were taken hostage, with 58 still in Gaza \u2013 but nearly two-thirds of them are thought to be dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n