By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel pursued its military operation in Gaza on Monday, killing at least 20 Palestinians in overnight airstrikes after it agreed to lift a two-month-old blockade on aid deliveries that has left the enclave on the brink of famine.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel aimed to take control of all of Gaza as part of “extensive ground operations” announced on Sunday and prevent Hamas militants from looting aid shipments. Hamas has denied involvement in looting.
The Israeli military said forces engaged in a new campaign dubbed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” were active across Gaza, seeking to eliminate Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and bring back remaining hostages seized in October 2023.
Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday Israel would ease its blockade and let limited amounts of food into Gaza.
Palestinian media said 50 trucks carrying flour, cooking oil and legumes would be allowed into the small coastal territory later on Monday, while Israeli media said nine trucks with baby food were expected to enter in coming hours.
A Reuters reporter at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza said no activity was visible by the late morning while UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, said it would comment to the press “when and if aid goes in”.
Israel faces mounting international pressure over the blockade on humanitarian deliveries it imposed in March, shortly before breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, as aid agencies warn of famine in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Nahed Shheibar, owner of a transport company involved in aid distribution, urged Gazans not to intercept or loot the trucks.
Separately, residents and medics said an Israeli undercover force killed a militant leader in a raid in the south as the army proceeded with its new ground offensive against Hamas-led Palestinian militants in the enclave.
Ahmed Sarhan, a commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, a militant group allied with Hamas, was killed in the raid by forces that entered the heart of the city of Khan Younis disguised as displaced persons, according to the medics.
Residents said Sarhan clashed with the force before he was killed, and that the Israelis detained his wife and children before retreating in a bus towards the eastern border with Gaza under a cover of fire from planes.
“As you see, they entered, opened a hole in the wall, entered the house and executed the father and took an 11-year-old child and his mother, and left,” said an eyewitness, Mohammed Sarhan, referring to the PRC commander.
ESCALATING MILITARY CAMPAIGN
Palestinian health officials said more than 500 people have been killed in attacks in the past eight days as Israel has stepped up its military campaign.
Israel made its announcement on aid after sources on both sides reported no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar.
Netanyahu said the discussions touched on a truce and hostage deal as well as a proposal to end the war in return for the exile of Hamas militants and the demilitarisation of Gaza – terms previously rejected by Hamas.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for the lack of progress at the Doha talks and said escalating its offensive would put the lives of the hostages at risk.
“The operations by Gideon’s Chariots are a death sentence for the remaining Israeli captives, and the continuation of this operation means that Netanyahu aims to get rid of the captives, not to recover them,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Hamas said previously that several hostages had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel accused the Islamist group of executing hostages in its custody.
Israel’s ground and air war has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli communities near Gaza’s border on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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