Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes plans announced by the military to carry out daily tactical breaks in fighting along one of the main routes into the besieged and bombed Gaza Strip to facilitate delivery aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The army had announced daily breaks from 05:00 GMT to 16:00 GMT in the area from the Karem Abu Salem crossing (Kerem Shalom) to the Salah al-Din road, then towards the north.
“When the prime minister heard reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an official said Israeli to the Reuters news agency.
The army said normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its ongoing attack in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.
Israeli forces razed homes in the area and attacks continued on Sunday, despite it being the first day of Eid al-Adha, the most important Muslim holiday of the year.
An Israeli attack on two houses in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza killed nine people, including six children, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.
Meanwhile, at least two Palestinians in the Tal as-Sultan neighborhood west of Rafah were killed in another Israeli attack, which the army followed up by targeting an ambulance trying to reach the Palestinians. victims, according to Tel Aviv Tribune Arab correspondents on the ground.
The Israeli army also announced the death of three soldiers, including two reservists, in fighting on Sunday.
Divisions between government and army
Netanyahu’s opposition to tactical pauses underscored political tensions over the issue of aid in Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis and looming famine.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the tightest religious nationalist parties in Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decides that it he was an “idiot” who should lose his job.
Far-right government ministers want to further cut aid to Gaza, even though it has been greatly reduced since Israel retook the vital Rafah border crossing. And for months, right-wing Israelis have been protesting and blocking roads to prevent aid deliveries from reaching Gaza, further straining the flow of desperately needed aid to the territory.
Before the crossing point was taken on May 6, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza was already insufficient, particularly in northern Gaza, where famine had already set in.
The row was the latest in a series of clashes between coalition members and the army over the conduct of the assault on Gaza, now in its ninth month.
This comes a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz left the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.
Divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law to enlist ultra-Orthodox Jews in the military, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voting against the law in defiance of party orders. , judging it insufficient for the needs of the army.
The coalition’s religious parties strongly opposed the conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, sparking widespread anger from many Israelis, which intensified as the war continued.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Sunday there was a “definite need” to recruit more soldiers from the rapidly growing ultra-Orthodox community.
Despite growing international pressure for a lasting ceasefire, an agreement to end the fighting still seems distant, more than eight months since October 7, when Israel launched its most ruthless offensive in Gaza after Hamas attacks in southern Israel.
The Israeli military campaign has killed more than 37,300 Palestinians, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures, and destroyed much of the enclave.
Although opinion polls suggest that most Israelis support the government’s goal of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests against the government for not doing more to bring home approximately 120 captives held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7.
As fighting continues in Gaza, a lower-level conflict on the Israeli-Lebanese border now threatens to escalate into a broader war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group intensified.
In another sign that the fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu’s government announced on Sunday that it was extending until August 15 the period during which it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from Gaza’s border towns. southern Israel.