Netanyahu Defends Gaza Plan Condemned at Home and Abroad

(Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan for a military sweep against the final Hamas strongholds in Gaza, calling it the best available option for recovering hostages while safeguarding his country’s long-term security — an argument that’s met vocal opposition at home and abroad. 

After talks on a third ceasefire stalled in July, the Netanyahu government on Friday authorized an advance on Gaza City. Israeli forces had previously skirted the area for fear that hostages believed to be held there could be hurt or lost in the chaos of combat.

Though the army has yet to mobilize the reinforcements required to roll into action, the plan has drawn condemnation from foreign powers already upset at a hunger crisis besetting Palestinians in Gaza, after Israel cut off aid between March and May in a bid to sideline Hamas. The US, by contrast, has indicated readiness to back its Middle Eastern ally.

There’s also been recrimination in Israel, where polls for months have shown a majority prefer a negotiated deal to recover all hostages, even if it means winding down the war with Hamas still standing. 

Relatives of the hostages are calling for a general strike to protest the latest plans. At the other end of the political spectrum, far-right coalition parties are grumbling that the proposal, which Netanyahu says will defeat Hamas once and for all, doesn’t go far enough. 

“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza — free it from Hamas terrorists,” Netanyahu told foreign reporters at a briefing on Sunday. “Contrary to false claims, this is the best way to end the war.” 

In previous statements during the 22-month-old conflict, Netanyahu suggested victory was imminent. He struck a more cautious note on Sunday, declining to give a detailed timeline for advances on Gaza City and, later, on central townships that have also largely been spared incursions. The operations would be “fairly quick” and prevent Israel getting into a war of attrition with Hamas holdouts, he said. 

Twenty of the hostages, mostly taken during the Hamas incursions into Israel in October 2023, are believed to be still alive. Hamas has threatened to execute them rather than see them rescued. Their relatives also worry about the risk they could be killed in crossfire once new assaults ramp up. 

“The move that I’m talking about, I think, has a possibility of getting them out,” Netanyahu said. 

Doubling down on his rejection of allegations that Israel has been deliberately starving Gazans, Netanyahu said the “exact opposite” was true. While acknowledging “deprivation” in parts of the coastal enclave, he said aid is now reaching its 2 million civilian residents.  

In contrast, the UN’s World Food Program says a quarter of Gazans are on the brink of famine. Hamas authorities say the daily number of trucks entering in the past two weeks, since restrictions on aid deliveries were relaxed by Israel, has averaged 100, far below the 600 the group demands. 

Still, black market food prices, a measure of scarcity, are dropping. Sugar, at $8.76 a kilo ($3.97 per pound) is about 10 times cheaper than a few days ago. A kilogram of flour costs $3.50 to $4.38, a recent steep decline although still far above the pre-war price of $0.88. 

Several Western countries, lamenting the protracted conflict, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state. Germany, historically Israel’s most important European ally, intends to stop supplying the Netanyahu government with arms for use in Gaza.

Netanyahu said his German counterpart, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, had “buckled under the pressure” of what he called false media reports and pro-Palestinian groups. “We will win the war with or without the support of others,” he said.

Most Israelis don’t want any remnant of Hamas in Gaza nor a Palestinian state to arise there or in the West Bank, Netanyahu said. 

Hamas, which is committed to the Jewish state’s destruction and blacklisted as a terrorist group in much of the West, has sounded undeterred by Netanyahu’s plan.

“The weapons of resistance are a legitimate right as long as the occupation remains,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al-Araby TV, reiterating the group’s refusal to disarm as demanded by Israel for an open-ended truce. “The resistance will continue until the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state.”

--With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer, Ethan Bronner, Fares Akram and Fadwa Hodali.

(Updates with more comments from Netanyahu, other details throughout.)

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