The Israeli PM said the plans include demilitarizing Gaza, the Israeli military having “overriding security control” there and a non-Israeli civilian administration in charge.
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday sought to defend a new military offensive in one of Gaza ‘s most populated areas amid growing condemnation at home and abroad, declaring that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.”
He spoke to foreign media minutes before an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Gaza. Notably, Netanyahu said he has directed Israel’s military in recent days to “bring in more foreign journalists” — which would be a striking development, as they haven’t been allowed into Gaza beyond military embeds during 22 months of war.
“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza, our goal is to free Gaza,” Netanyahu asserted. He also pushed back against what he called a “global campaign of lies” — and said Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of Israel’s strongest backers, had “buckled under” by announcing that Germany won’t authorize exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice.
Netanyahu said there is a “fairly short timetable” in mind for next steps in Gaza, but didn’t give specifics. The goals there, he said, include demilitarizing the territory, the Israeli military having “overriding security control” there and a non-Israeli civilian administration in charge.
Netanyahu again blamed many of Gaza’s problems on the Hamas militant group, including civilian deaths, destruction and shortages of aid. “Hamas still has thousands of armed terrorists in Gaza,” he asserted, adding that Palestinians are “begging” the world to be freed from them.
The prime minister, who has asserted that there is “no starvation in Gaza,” did acknowledge hunger there, saying, “there was a problem with deprivation, no question about it.” Israel wants to increase the number of aid distribution sites, he said, but gave no details.
Netanyahu is to speak later Sunday for the Israeli audience.
More Palestinians killed as they seek aid
At least 26 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid in Gaza, hospitals and witnesses said, as families of Israeli hostages called for a general strike to protest Netanyahu’s plans to expand military operations in Gaza City.
Hospital officials said they received bodies from areas where Palestinians were seeking aid, along food convoy routes or near privately run aid distribution points across Gaza.
The dead included 15 killed while waiting for aid trucks close to the newly built Morag corridor that separates the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, according to Nasser hospital.
A further six were killed while waiting for aid in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
In central Gaza, witnesses said they heard warning shots before the fire was aimed toward crowds of aid-seekers trying to reach a food distribution site operated by the Israeli-backed and U.S.-funded Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The AP could not independently confirm who fired the shots. Awda hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp said four people were killed by Israeli gunfire.
“First, it was in the air, then they started to fire at the people,” said Sayed Awda, who waited hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF site.
Six other aid-seekers were killed while trying to reach GHF sites in Khan Younis and Rafah, Nasser hospital said.
The GHF sites opened in May as an alternative to the U.N.-run aid system, but its early operations have been marred by deaths and chaos, with aid-seekers coming under gunfire near routes leading to the sites.
Responding to AP inquiries, the GHF media office said: “There were no incidents at or near our sites today and these incidents appear to be linked to crowds trying to loot aid convoy.”
Israel’s military said there were no incidents involving Israeli troops near central Gaza aid sites.
Seven people were killed in airstrikes, local hospitals said — three people near the fishermen’s port in Gaza City and four people, two of them children, in a strike that hit a tent in Khan Younis. Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the strikes, but has accused Hamas of operating from civilian areas. — AP
