Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday approved the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza due to intense international pressure on the issue.

Netanyahu announced the decision in a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday evening, sparking a prolonged debate on the matter.

According to a Kan News report on Monday morning, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said at the meeting: “We need to bring in aid immediately. There’s enormous pressure in the European Union and threats of sanctions, also from the Americans. A series of foreign ministers spoke with me about the issue. Democratic and Republican members of Congress have also approached the Israeli ambassador to the United States about the issue.”

Sa’ar described at length his conversations with foreign ministers and with the Israeli ambassador to the US: “Everyone from both parties is talking to me only about this.”

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich surprisingly backed Sa’ar: “I back the Foreign Minister because he is heading the diplomatic issue, but it is imperative to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu interjected, saying that he is being strongly pressured on the issue by the Republican Party, Israel’s friends in the US, and by President Trump himself. “President Trump is exerting strong pressure,” he said.

Representatives of the  Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said: “There is no starvation in Gaza, but the warehouses of the aid organizations are emptying and people are hoarding in homes. We are approaching the red line. We could enter a problematic situation.”

A number of ministers expressed opposition to the move, including Likud MK Avichay Buaron, who called the decision “absolute insanity,” and Likud MK Moshe Saada, who said: “You can’t deploy five IDF divisions to destroy the enemy and simultaneously give it food to survive.”

Channel 12 News reported on Sunday night that a stormy confrontation broke out during the meeting after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that no aid be allowed to enter the Strip.

Ben-Gvir said, “I definitely want to starve Hamas” and demanded a vote on the matter, claiming that there was no majority in the cabinet to support the decision. Hanegbi accused Ben-Gvir of “sedition.” However, National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said that there was no need to hold a vote because “the Prime Minister has already summarized the issue.”

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that “on the recommendation of the IDF, and out of the operational need to allow the expansion of the intensive fighting to defeat Hamas, Israel will bring in a minimal amount of food to the population in order to ensure that a humanitarian crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip. Such a crisis will jeopardize the continuation of Operation Chariots of Fire to defeat Hamas.”

“Israel will act to thwart Hamas’s ability to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in order to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas terrorists.”

After being attacked for his decision to resume aid to Gaza, Netanyahu on Monday posted a video statement explaining his decision, stating: “We must not reach a situation of famine. Substantively and diplomatically, we won’t have support, and we won’t be able to complete the mission of victory.”

“Even our strongest supporters told me, ‘We can give you weapons, support at the U.N., help in defeating Hamas. But one thing we can’t support is mass starvation.'”

Following the meeting, Ben-Gvir stated: “Any humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip will inevitably fuel Hamas while our hostages continue to languish in the tunnels. The Prime Minister is making a serious mistake with this decision, and he doesn’t even have a majority supporting it. Hamas must be crushed, not sustained with lifelines that enable its survival.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)