PM Netanyahu: Israel will control all parts of the Gaza Strip
"No aid will enter Hamas. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is simply lying," said Smotrich
The expansion of the operation in Gaza is for the IDF to take control of the entire territory to prevent Hamas from looting humanitarian aid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.
The cabinet decision on Sunday evening to renew such aid was the correct move, he said, since without it, Israel would lose the support of its “closest allies,” including US senators who “support Israelunconditionally.”
“We cannot reach a situation of famine, neither professionally nor diplomatically,” the prime minister said in a video statement.
He explained that the new method of distribution will include “distribution points” secured by the IDF, but with the aid itself provided by an American organization. However, the first such point will only be ready in a “few days,” Netanyahu said.
“[The distribution points are] parallel to the enormous pressure [we’re putting on Hamas], our massive entrance [into Gaza], essentially taking control of all of Gaza, [which would] remove any capabilities by Hamas to loot humanitarian aid,” he said. “This is the war and victory plan.”
'No aid will reach Hamas'
In the meantime, Israel needed to let aid into the enclave, the prime minister said. He refrained from promising that the food entering during this period until the distribution points were ready would not be looted by Hamas.He added that the return of the hostages was paramount to a “combined victory” over the terrorist group.
The video began and ended with the prime minister addressing other ministers and right-wing figures who criticized the entry of the humanitarian aid. He called the criticism “natural” but said his decision revealed “leadership” since it was “unpopular.”
The video came a short time after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on the prime minister, in an impromptu press conference, to “speak to the public” and “show leadership.”
“No aid will reach Hamas. Period. Anyone who says otherwise is simply lying,” the Religious Zionist Party chairman said on Monday. In his statement following the cabinet’s decision to renew aid into Gaza, Smotrich said it “will not reach Hamas.”
“It will allow civilians to eat, our friends around the world to continue providing us with an international protection umbrella at the Security Council and The Hague, and us to keep fighting, God willing, until victory,” Smotrich said.
“For two and a half months, we did not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, creating enormous pressure on Hamas – and rightly so. But pressure must be managed so it doesn’t explode on us,” he said.
Smotrich said that when the IDF resumed full efforts to conquer Gaza, allies asked Israel to help them dispel starvation claims.
“We must do so; without this, we cannot fight and win. This is not surrendering to pressure, but doing the right thing to stay focused on the main goal: destroying Hamas.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the decision to provide humanitarian aid and contradicted Smotrich’s statement that it would not reach Hamas. He said Netanyahu had prevented a vote in the cabinet because the measure may not have passed.
“The decision, which was made last night in a hasty manner, to renew aid to the entire Gaza Strip, is a serious and grave mistake,” Ben-Gvir said. “We must tell the truth to the public in the State of Israel: This aid... will also fall into the hands of Hamas. That is the reason they refused my request for a vote. That is the reason they knew I had a majority to overturn this decision.
Ben-Gvir said Israel needed to explain to US President Donald Trump that, given Hamas’s control, humanitarian aid endangers the lives of Israeli soldiers.
“We must not give oxygen to our enemies,” he said.
Criticism came from the opposition as well.
“The government’s decision to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza once again proves that the government of October 7 is still trapped in the mindset of October 6, with zero ability to withstand international pressure,” Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman said on Monday.
“Saying that ‘aid is being delivered at the IDF’s recommendation’ is a cynical use of the IDF and our soldiers,” Liberman said.
Despite any mechanisms, the aid will reach Hamas, he said.
“The only real mechanism at play here is a mechanism of lies to the public,” he said. “Anyone who watched Smotrich’s press conference can see that even if the Western Wall were handed over, he would remain in his seat and claim it was a step toward defeating Hamas.”
