The Israeli security cabinet is ready to satisfy Thursday evening to debate a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, a move that — if it happens — would come despite fierce opposition from many in Israel, including the families of hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.
The meeting comes on a day when at the least 29 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza, in keeping with local hospitals.
Nasser Hospital within the southern city of Khan Younis said 12 of the fatalities were from people attempting to access aid near a distribution site run by a U.S. and Israeli-backed private contractor. No less than 50 people were wounded, many from gunshots, the hospital said. Neither the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation nor the Israeli military, which helps secure the group’s sites, immediately commented on the strikes or shootings. The Israeli military has accused Hamas of operating in densely populated civilian areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been meeting this week with top advisers and security officials to debate what his office said are ways to “further achieve Israel’s goals in Gaza” after the breakdown of ceasefire talks last month.
An Israeli official accustomed to the matter said the Security Cabinet is predicted to carry a lengthy debate and approve an expanded military plan to beat all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a proper decision, said that whatever is approved can be implemented regularly and in stages with the thought of accelerating pressure on Hamas.
Such a step would trigger recent international condemnation of Israel at a time when Gaza is plunging toward famine. It also has drawn opposition across Israel, with hostage families saying it could threaten their family members.
Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has warned that the plan would endanger the hostages and further strain Israel’s army, which has been stretched thin during an almost two-year conflict, in keeping with Israeli media. The comments appear to have exposed a rift between Netanyahu and his army.
Opposition to expansion of the conflict
Demonstrations were planned across Israel on Thursday evening to protest the expected Cabinet decision.
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On Thursday morning, almost two dozen relatives of hostages being held in Gaza set sail from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers on boats to their relatives in Gaza.
The families denounced Netanyahu’s plan to expand military operations. Yehuda Cohen, the daddy of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza, said from the boat that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict to satisfy extremists in his government and to forestall it from collapsing.
“Netanyahu is working just for himself,” he said, pleading with the international community to place pressure on Netanyahu to stop the conflict and save his son.
Israel returns body of Palestinian activist for burial
Israeli authorities returned the body of a Palestinian activist allegedly killed by an Israeli settler last week, after female Bedouin relatives launched a hunger strike to protest the authority’s decision to carry his body in custody. The hunger strike was a rare public call from Bedouin women who traditionally mourn in private.
Witnesses said Awdah Al Hathaleen was shot and killed by a radical Israeli settler during a confrontation caught on video last month. Israeli authorities said they’d only return the body if the family agrees to certain conditions that may “prevent public disorder.” Despite dropping a few of their demands, relations said Israel arrange checkpoints and prevented many mourners from outside the village from attending.
The plight of Palestinians on this area of the West Bank, referred to as Masafer Yatta, was featured in “No Other Land,” an Oscar-winning documentary about settler violence and life under Israeli military rule.
Al Hathaleen, a political activist and an English teacher, was a contributor to the film and shut friend of its Palestinian co-directors.
Aid organizations denounce Israeli policies
Two major international aid organizations published reports on Thursday denouncing Israeli policies in Gaza.
Human Rights Watch called on governments worldwide to suspend their arms transfers to Israel within the wake of deadly airstrikes on two Palestinian schools last yr.
Human Rights Watch said an investigation didn’t find any evidence of a military goal at either school. No less than 49 people were killed within the airstrikes that hit the Khadija girls’ school in Deir al-Balah on July 27, 2024, and the al-Zeitoun C school in Gaza City on Sept. 21, 2024.
Doctors without Borders, also referred to as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, accused the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution sites of causing “orchestrated killing” slightly than handing out aid.
In response to the United Nations, greater than 850 people have died near GHF sites previously two months. MSF runs two medical clinics very near the GHF sites and said it had treated nearly 1,400 people wounded near the sites between June 7 and July 20, including 28 individuals who were dead upon arrival. MSF also treated 41 children who were shot near GHF sites.
The organization said it has also treated almost 200 patients with physical assault injuries from chaotic scrambles at GHF sites, including head injuries, suffocation, and multiple patients with severely aggravated eyes after being sprayed at close range with pepper spray.
GHF didn’t immediately answer a request for comment. However it has said that its contractors haven’t shot anyone at its sites.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 within the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the conflict. They still hold 50 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after many of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed greater than 61,000 Palestinians, in keeping with Hamas-run Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says around half the dead have been women and youngsters. The ministry is a component of the Hamas government but is staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and other independent experts view its figures as probably the most reliable casualty count.
Israel has disputed the figures but hasn’t provided its own.
—Associated Press writers Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem and Natalie Melzer contributed from Nahariya.