Is Netanyahu kidding us?

After 80 days of complete blockade on the war-torn Gaza Strip, alarming warnings of catastrophic starvation and the collapse of the healthcare system, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he decided to allow the entry of humanitarian aid including food and medicine.

Netanyahu’s decision, which was allegedly taken without a vote, angered several cabinet members including the extremist ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and others. Ben-Gvir made clear he had been and is still against the entry of any particle of aid. He has on several occasions called for bombing any remaining food warehouses in the besieged enclave.

“This [entry of aid] is a serious mistake, which is delaying our victory,” Ben-Gvir said. “I call once again on the prime minister to explain to our friends in the White House the implications of this aid, which only prolongs the war and delays our victory and the return of all our hostages,” he added.

Meanwhile Smotrich, who adopts an almost similar approach, he said the Israeli occupation government may allow some aid into Gaza but insisted on the need to ethnically cleanse the coastal enclave by killing all of its residents or forcing them out to another country, paving the way for resettlement.

“I was the one who demanded an end to the reckless policy of sending in thousands of trucks [to Gaza],’ he said, claiming that aid “was seized by Hamas, monetised and used to prop up its regime.”

He added: “I initiated an alternative plan involving civilian companies, and I can say with full responsibility that the past will not repeat itself,” exposing the aim of Netanyahu’s decision to allow the entry of aid to Gaza.

The extremist minister stated: “It will allow civilians to eat, for our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and The Hague Tribunal, and for us to continue to fight, God willing, until victory.”

Explaining how the plan is working, Smotrich said: “What will come in the coming days is a little bit to the bakeries that distribute pitas to people and public kitchens that provide a daily ration of cooked food. Civilians in Gaza will receive a pita and a plate of food and that is it.”

At the same time, he criticised those who were either infuriated by the decision to allow aid entry or those who said the amount permitted to enter into Gaza is far less than the minimum need. “This is a historic transformation,” he said. “That is the objective. That is our mission. And we must not be distracted by secondary issues.” He refers to the forced expulsion plan being carried out.

As for Netanyahu, he did not hide his sinister intention behind his decision to temporarily allow the entry of a “minimal” amount of aid, noting in a televised speech and posting on his X account, that this came following pressure from allies in the US Senate.

“We must not reach a situation of famine, both from a practical and a diplomatic standpoint,” he said, stressing that the Israeli occupation forces would “take control of all areas” of Gaza as part of the expanded ground offensive codenamed Operation Gideon’s Chariots which is aimed at scorching the land of Gaza and pushing its inhabitants out.

While the world has been indulged in reactions and discussions related to the kind and amount of aid to enter into Gaza, and the mechanism it would be used to deliver this aid, Netanyahu’s forces continue their war crimes, killing and wounding more people throughout Gaza. They are issuing more displacement orders and destroying homes, schools and hospitals.

During the past three days, the Israeli occupation forces sent an extra five military divisions to Gaza, killed more than 500 people, and wounded more than 1,000 others. They attacked four hospitals, putting three of them out of service. They wiped out entire families and razed large swathes of Rafah, Khan Younis, Gaza City, Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia.

READ: Netanyahu rejects comprehensive ceasefire, insists on fragmenting truce issues: Hamas 

At the same time, the Israeli occupation army posted on X videos of convoys of aid trucks claiming they were in their way to Gaza. But government sources, UN officials, and head of NGO’s Congregation in Gaza denied that any aid had entered into Gaza.

Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) welcomed the Israeli declaration that aid would have entered Gaza, stressing it was only “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed” by the 2.4 million Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave. 

Netanyahu, while going ahead with his plan to accelerate the Gaza genocide, is deceiving the whole world regarding the negotiations in Doha. While world leaders, Palestinians and families of Israeli prisoners wish to see the negotiations lead to ending the war in Gaza, he insists on not giving enough power to his negotiators to reach a deal. Inevitably, he then blames the Palestinian resistance of not being flexible.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hamas revealed that the Israeli negotiations team did not make any real talks since Saturday and the Israeli negotiators are in Doha to buy time for Netanyahu as well as to deflect international criticism.

According to Netanyahu, Hamas always undermine efforts to reach a deal as it does not accept any condition to release the Israeli prisoners unless the war is ended. On its part, Hamas must insist on this condition; for what does it mean to release the prisoners in return for a pause of the genocide for two or three months and then Netanyahu resumes his war crimes against civilians.

Netanyahu continues telling the world that Isreal is fighting “terrorists” in order to guarantee full support by the international community. On the contrary, active and retired Israeli army generals and senior political leaders insists that he is killing civilians, children and women, and pursuing a war for individual interests.

Chairman of Israeli Democrats Yair Golan, who is a retired army general, said that the Israeli army is killing children in Gaza as a hobby and is involved in a war for Netanyahu who wants to appease his extremist right-wing government partners.

Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised Golan’s courageous remarks and reiterated them.

However, Netanyahu is ignoring everything, including a recent trend among European leaders insisting on the need to end the war; he insists on continuing with his war crimes and genocide. 

In recent days, there has been a trend on social media with activists from around the world posting pictures of themselves holding posters calling for military intervention to end the Gaza genocide. Netanyahu might be waiting for this military intervention or the internal disintegration of the occupation state of Israel. I am ruling out the former, but expect the latter to come very soon.

READ: Trump cuts off communication with Netanyahu, Israel media says 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.