Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under pressure from all sides Sunday as his controversial plan to seize Gaza City drew backlash inside his government and on the streets of Israel, while malnutrition deaths in the Gaza Strip continued to climb.
At a press conference on Sunday, a defiant Netanyahu continued to deny there is starvation in Gaza and claimed the situation is being exaggerated. Netanyahu only conceded there was “deprivation” in Gaza, but said “no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war” if Israel was implementing a “starvation policy.”
Netanyahu went on to defend the new military offensive, saying Israel had “no choice” but to “finish the job” and “defeat Hamas,” while claiming that “hundreds of aid trucks have gone into Gaza.”
But his critics on the left say his proposed new military offensive is likely to worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and further endanger the hostages still being held by Hamas. Protests calling for an immediate ceasefire drew thousands of people Saturday night in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
And for some far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition government, the plan isn’t tough enough.
Foreign Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed for Israel to impose sovereignty over Gaza, called it a “foolish” half-measure, saying in a video message Saturday night that he did not support it.
Smotrich said the proposed offensive was intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a temporary ceasefire, and that instead Israel needed a “sharp, clear path” to victory over Hamas.
The dissatisfaction expressed by Smotrich, who said he had “lost faith” in the prime minister, threatens to destabilize Netanyahu’s fragile coalition.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid seized on the opportunity, calling on Smotrich to join him in advancing a bill to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.
“In your own words, you admitted that the prime minister’s policy is not leading to a decisive outcome in Gaza, is not returning our hostages, and is not winning the war,” Lapid said in a statement, according to the Times of Israel. “You also added that you can no longer stand behind the prime minister and back him up.”
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting later Sunday to discuss Israel’s proposed offensive, which has been condemned by Britain, France, Australia and other Western governments.
James Kariuki, the U.K.’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N., called on Israel to reverse its decision, saying the plan “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
It comes amid a worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, where humanitarian aid has been limited since Israel lifted a two-and-a-half-month blockade in May.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that five more people, including two children, had died from malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 217, including 100 children.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Thursday that at least 99 people in Gaza, including 29 children under age 5, have died from malnutrition this year, noting the real toll was most likely higher.
The U.N. and other international organizations say the humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza through air drops and on a small number of trucks is far from sufficient to feed the enclave’s population of 2 million people.
On Saturday, a 14-year-old boy named Muhannad Eid died after being struck by an aid package that was airdropped over Gaza, his brother, Muhammad Eid, said.
“This is an aerial humiliation, not aid,” Eid said. “We need protection. We want international protection.”
With the latest death, 23 people have now been killed during airdrops since the Israel-Hamas war began 22 months ago, according to the Gaza government media office.
“We have repeatedly warned of the danger of these inhumane methods and have repeatedly called for the safe and adequate entry of aid through land crossings,” it said in a statement.
According to local health officials, more than 61,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, have been killed since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel. During that attack, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
Of the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas, Israel believes about 20 are alive. Hostage advocates and Netanyahu’s own army chief have warned that expanded military operations could put their lives in danger.
The plan, which Netanyahu’s government announced Friday, outlines five goals for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, taking security control of the area, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
Those preparations are expected to take weeks or months, a delay that hardliners in the Israeli government fear could leave room for a diplomatic solution that would undermine their objectives.
Experts have also questioned whether the plan would protect Israelis, or work at all.
Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center, said the plan was full of “hollow slogans.”
“There is a very common slogan: ‘We will release the hostages and defeat Hamas at the same time,’” he said. “You can’t do both simultaneously. Hamas will execute them, or the IDF itself could in the bombing.”
Netanyahu said Sunday that his goal was to get the hostages out alive and recover the remains of those had had died.
“If we don’t do anything, we are not going to get them out,” he said. “The move I’m talking about has the possibility of getting them out.”
There are also questions as to who would run Gaza long term. Netanyahu said he intends to hand control of the territory to “Arab forces,” adding Sunday that “several candidates” are being looked at for the establishment of a new “transitional authority.”
He has not specified who that could be, aside from saying it would not be Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
“That leaves nobody,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “No Arab country is going to be Israel’s enforcer on the ground.”