Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said Israel would control all of the Gaza Strip and prevent Hamas from looting aid.
The prime minister made his remarks as the Israel Defense Forces started in earnest a large-scale operation, called Gideon’s Chariot, that Netanyahu said amounted to Israel essentially taking over Gaza.
“This is part of defeating Hamas, in parallel with the tremendous military pressure, our massive entry, to essentially take over all of Gaza and strip Hamas of all ability to plunder humanitarian aid,” Netanyahu said, according to a transcript provided by Reuters.
“This is the war and victory plan.”
Netanyahu said Israel would resume, and the Israeli military (IDF) would take control of food and aid distribution to Palestinians in the strip in coordination with American companies.
“The method is distribution points that are secured by the IDF, preventing Hamas’ access and allowing American companies to distribute the food and medicine aid to the population,” Netanyahu said.
“It takes time. We are going to set up the first points in a few days and add them later, eventually reaching a situation where we have an area that is entirely controlled by the IDF and the entire civilian population of Gaza can get there and receive the aid and Hamas receives nothing.”
Reuters reported that aid trucks were seen heading into the northern Gaza Strip, the first movement after nearly three months of a blockade that Israel said was necessary pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it kidnapped from Israel during its attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel’s blockade drew wide-spread international condemnation. President Trump earlier this month said the U.S. would help get aid into Gaza. The remarks came ahead of the president’s three-tour trip to the Middle East, to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, where support for Palestinians is a priority issue.
While Trump did not provide details on aid resumption at the time, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggested the U.S. was behind a newly established “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” that would facilitate distribution with private American companies.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said Trump wants to see the conflict between Israel and Hamas end and all hostages be released. Trump, through negotiations with Hamas, secured the release last week of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander.
Leavitt did not have a response to Netanyahu’s remarks about Israel taking over the strip. Trump has floated the U.S. taking over Gaza, encouraging the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the territory and remaking it into a Riviera-like vacation destination.
“As for the prime minister’s comments, I’ll let the president himself respond to those,” Leavitt said.
Netanyahu said the mounting international pressure forced Israel to relent on the blockade, the Times of Israel reported, citing a video released by the prime minister on his Telegram channel. Netanyahu said Israel’s allies had voiced concern about “images of hunger” and lawmakers from an unnamed nation said Israel would lose support if mass hunger proliferated.
“We cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger. We cannot stand that. We will not be able to support you,” Netanyahu said in his video message.
The war between Israel and Hamas started after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel, where the U.S.-designated terrorist group killed approximately 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage. Israel launched a widespread military operation that has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed approximately 56,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The U.S. had helped broker two ceasefires, in November 2023 and this January, that allowed for the return of hostages and a reprieve for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The second ceasefire fell apart in March. The Trump administration is working to broker a truce that would allow for the release of 58 hostages still held by the terror group, although a little more than 20 people are still believed to be alive.
