Individually, some Israeli officers admit that Gaza is on the verge of hunger

Some Israeli military officials concluded that the Palestinians in Gaza are facing widespread hunger unless the delivery of aid is restored within weeks, according to three Israeli defense officials familiar with the conditions in the pocket.

For several months, Israel confirmed that the siege on food and fuel to Gaza did not pose a major threat to civil life in the region, even as the United Nations and other relief agencies said. It was a waving famine on the horizon.

But the Israeli military officers who monitor the humanitarian conditions in Gaza warned their leaders in recent days that unless the siege is raised quickly, it is possible that many pocket areas will run out of enough food to meet the minimum daily food needs, according to defense officials. They talked about the lack of disclosure of his identity to exchange sensitive details.

Since it takes some time to expand the scope of human delivery, the officers said that immediate steps are needed to ensure that the system can be restored to help quickly to prevent hunger.

The growing recognition of part of the Israeli security establishment for the hunger crisis in Gaza also has pledged to expand the war significantly in Gaza to destroy Hamas and restore the remaining hostages – the twin goal that has not been achieved by more than 19 months of the war. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was challenging, and said that the army would resume fighting in the coming days “entirely to end the job” and “eliminate Hamas”.

The statement of Mr. Netanyahu came on the same day President Trump fell in the Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaAs part of the first major foreign trip since its re -election. Mr. Trump, however, does not visit Israel, and confirms a The growing gap between two leaders Those who are increasingly disagree about some of the most important security issues facing Israel.

The analysis of military officials revealed that there is a position between the general position of Israel on the relevant siege and its own deliberations. It reveals that parts of the Israeli security establishment have reached the same conclusions as the leading relief groups. They have been warned for months of the dangers offered by the siege.

The analysis also sheds light on the urgency of the humanitarian situation in Gaza: Most bakeries have been closed, the charitable kitchens are closed and says the United Nations World Food Program, which distributes shipments and coordination of shipments, it has run out food stocks.

On Monday, the classification of integrated food security, an uninterrupted initiative that monitors malnutrition, warned that starvation was imminent in Gaza. If Israel continues a planned military escalation in Gaza, the initiative He said In a brief report, “The vast majority of people in the Gaza Strip will not be able to reach food, water, shelter and medicine.”

The Israeli army and the Israeli Ministry of Defense refused to respond to commenting on the predictions of the Israeli officers that Gaza is approaching a food crisis. Orine Marmmastein, a spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he was unable to share details from internal discussions, but the ministry was in contact with “all relevant agencies on a continuous daily basis” and monitored the close situation in Gaza.

The Israeli restrictions on aid to Gaza were one of the most controversial issues in the war. Israel cut supplies to Gaza in March, shortly before breaking the ceasefire with Hamas, which is still firmly in Gaza despite the loss of thousands of fighters and controlling most of the lands during the war.

Israel said that the aim of the siege is to reduce the ability of the Palestinian armed group to reach and profit from food and fuel for civilians. In this operation, one of the senior Israeli defense officials said that Hamas would be more likely to collapse or at least launch more hostages who seized the group during its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the war.

Its Israeli government has repeatedly He said The siege may cause a “lack of support” for civilians, partly due to the fact that many aid entered the region during the ceasefire.

But relief groups quickly warned that civilians would be the main victims, adding that the restrictions were illegal under international law. These warnings increased, as civilians said they are eating less than one meal per day, such as food prices. The Palestinians met by the New York Times He said The cost of the flour has increased 60 times since late February, which led to a looting.

“All I ate today was a little from Fava pills from an expired box,” said Khalil Al -Khalabi, a 71 -year -old retired meter official from Gaza City. He said on Monday that he was very weak and on walking, adding that his weight had decreased to about 130 lbs from about 210 pounds before the war.

Mr. Al -Wabi said that his daughter, who was recently gave birth to breastfeeding because she did not eat enough. He said there is no child formula available.

The officials of the Israeli government agency, which supervises politics in Gaza and the West Bank, have reached the same conclusion as relief agencies. The officers are constantly evaluating the humanitarian situation in Gaza by speaking with the Palestinians there, checking updates from relief organizations about their warehouse stocks, and analyzing the size and contents of aid truck that entered Gaza before the siege.

Then the officers informed them of senior leaders of the worsening situation, and they warned of the increasing urgency that many in the region were a few weeks of hunger. The Israeli general briefed the cabinet on the humanitarian situation in Gaza last week, saying that the supplies in the region will implement within a few weeks, according to an Israeli defense official and a senior government official. The cabinet was informed for the first time by Israel Channel 13.

According to three defense officials, the military leadership strongly approved the situation and explores ways to restart the delivery operations with Hamas.

Last week, and The Trump administration said it is working with Israel On such a plan. Israeli officials and relief groups said that it will include special organizations to distribute food from a handful of sites in Gaza, each of which serves hundreds of thousands of civilians. The Israeli army will be deployed in the vicinity of the sites, while the security companies privately perform.

The plan has been rejected by relief agencies, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which it said would not join the initiative because it will endanger civilians. The agency said that the proposal will force weakened people to walk longer distances to reach a few distribution centers, which makes it difficult to get food for those who need it more. Under the current system, the United Nations said, there are 400 distribution points. She said that “the new” greatly reduces this operating access.

The United Nations also warned that the plan will force civilians to pass regularly through Israeli military lines, which endangers them at greater danger to detention and interrogation. He added that the plan will suspend the displacement of civilians from northern Gaza, where the distribution centers were expected to be far in the south of the region.

Israeli officials confirmed that, if enact, the army will help the militants intercept Hamas and help transport civilians from north to south of Gaza. But they said that the goal was not to increase civil hardship, but to separate civilians from the fighters.

Experts in international conflict laws say it is illegal to limit a country to hand over aid if he knows that doing this will lead to hunger.

“The enforcement of the military blockade, knowing that it will be a starvation of the civilian population is a violation of international law,” said Janina del, director participating in the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict at Oxford University.

Ms. Del said that even if there is some debate about Israel’s obligations towards Ghazan, “when Israeli decision makers state that this purpose is to extract political and military concessions, it clearly constitutes a war crime.”

Man Rachon She contributed to the reports from Jerusalem.