Israel’s ultra-nationalist security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said it is time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said the latest US-backed ceasefire proposal failed to meet its demands.
Despite growing international outrage over Israeli military action in the Strip, Ben-Gvir called on Binyamin Netanyahu for tougher action.
“After Hamas rejected the deal proposal again, there are no more excuses,” Ben-Gvir said on social media.
People took bags of flour and cartons of food as gunshots rang out
“The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”
His comments came after a senior Hamas official said the latest White House proposal, put forward by the US envoy Steve Witkoff, was a retreat on former truce plans, although there has not been any formal rejection yet from the Palestinians.
Basem Naim said the new version meant “the continuation of killing and famine … and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war”.
On Thursday, the White House said Israel had “signed off” on the deal. Israeli media also reported that Netanyahu told the families of hostages that he had accepted the deal, guaranteed by the US, Egypt and Qatar, for Hamas to release ten living hostages and return the bodies of 18 others over two phases. In return, Israel would observe a 60-day ceasefire and free an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
Two people died and several were injured during the scramble for provisions at the storage facility
REUTERS
Humanitarian needs are “spiralling out of control”
EYAD BABA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Witkoff’s involvement marks a renewed push by Washington to broker a diplomatic solution amid rising concerns of a famine in the enclave.
On Thursday, seven Palestinian police officers were killed by an Israeli strike as they tried to restore order and confront “looters”, the Hamas-run interior ministry said. Israel did not comment on the incident.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, “hordes of hungry people” broke into a food warehouse, a United Nations agency has said, as it appealed for more supplies to be let into the territory, which it said was spiralling out of control.
Officials from the World Food Programme (WFP) said two people had died and several more were injured during the scramble for provisions at the storage facility on Wednesday. The agency said more needed to be delivered immediately “to reassure people that they will not starve”.
Displaced Palestinians walk for miles to reach an aid distribution site in Rafah
Video from the AFP news agency showed huge crowds of Palestinians breaking into the al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir al-Balah, taking bags of flour and cartons of food while gunshots rang out. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,” the agency said in a statement on X.
It added: “Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza.”
Under growing international pressure, Israel recently ended an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza. It has allowed a limited amount of relief to be delivered either via the UN or a controversial US-backed organisation, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The UN and other international aid groups have refused to work with the GHF, which uses American contractors, because they say the plan is not neutral. On Thursday, the GHF said it had opened a third distribution centre in Gaza and had handed out 1,838,182 meals since Monday.
• Aid to Gaza: how it gets in and where it goes
There are rising concerns of a famine in Gaza
EYAD BABA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Earlier in the week, at least three people were killed and 28 injured, according to the Hamas-run government media office, when the GHF lost control of its distribution centre in Rafah.
A witness who was collecting aid said they saw shots fired from Israeli military vehicles and aircraft, and suggested the death toll could be higher. “I saw three people killed and several injured,” said Muath Abu Mousa, 36, originally from Rafah but displaced to Khan Yunis. “One of my relatives was shot while trying to get aid. He passed away this morning from his injuries.”
People watch a live broadcast of Edan Alexander’s release from Hamas captivity at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv
ODED BALILTY/AP
It has not yet been confirmed whether the shots came from Israeli forces or private contractors. Israel said its troops nearby had fired warning shots.
Netanyahu says that only 20 of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza were believed to be alive.
He has said he was open to ending the war, but only if Israel’s objectives were fulfilled, including the dismantling of Hamas.
Mahmoud Shamlakh, displaced from Gaza City, says he had not received aid in over a year
Kamal Afaneh walked five miles to collect aid in Rafah, hoping to bring biscuits home to his malnourished children
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said the said the 75-year-old prime minister “successfully underwent a routine colonoscopy” at a hospital in Jerusalem.