The News
The US warned Israel to avoid a “policy of starvation” as Gaza faces growing food shortages.
The UN said its aid groups will run out of food in northern Gaza within days if Israel does not allow a sharp increase in aid deliveries, and Washington called on it to do so: The US envoy to the UN said Israel was trying to starve Hamas into submission, and that such a policy was “horrific and unacceptable,” with implications under international and US law. The UN would be watching Israel’s actions on the ground closely, she added.
SIGNALS
Israel may be laying the groundwork for its so-called ‘Generals’ Plan’
Israel insists that “more than enough” aid has entered Gaza and blames Hamas for “hijacking” the flow of supplies. But humanitarian organizations say breakdowns in law and order are happening precisely because there isn’t enough aid, the BBC reported: Only 50 trucks have got through the Erez Crossing over the last 24 hours, which is “much, much less” than the 500 trucks or so a day estimated to be needed. Human rights groups have long accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, and Israel may be laying the groundwork for its so-called ‘Generals’ Plan,’ which allegedly involves starving Palestinians into evacuating the north and treating those who refuse to leave as combatants, Haaretz reported.
A growing split is emerging between Israel’s hardliners and military
Israel has officially denied any such ‘Generals’ Plan,’ but officials told The Washington Post that some far-right ministers are agitating for its adoption: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “see it as the best way to achieve their own ends” of permanently occupying and resettling Gaza, one said, though there’s a split developing between cabinet hardliners and top military brass on the issue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may want to appease those hardliners, on whose political support he depends, a political scientist told the outlet. But he might hesitate if the US puts its foot down — though the very fact that the plans are up for debate “demonstrates precisely where Israeli society stands today,” a columnist argued in left-wing Israeli magazine +972.