Israel allows ‘basic’ food into dying Gaza for ‘diplomatic reasons’; Netanyahu says ‘friends can't accept hunger images'

After blocking food and all aid to Gaza for two months, Israel on Monday decided to resume “basic and limited” food air to a starving Gaza, not to save lives but to please its allies and friends. After the decision to allow limited food aid into the enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had become necessary for Israel to prevent a famine in Gaza for “diplomatic reasons”.

In a video message posted on Telegram, Netanyahu admitted to the growing international pressure to lift the blockade and said, “We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons.”

He said even friends of Gaza would not stomach images of hunger and “mass starvation” coming from Gaza.

Without mentioning specific nationalities, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's “greatest friends in the world” had said there is “one thing we cannot stand. We cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger. We cannot stand that. We will not be able to support you”.

“Therefore to achieve victory, we need to somehow solve the problem,” Netanyahu said.

Announcing the aid to Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, “On the recommendation of the IDF and based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip.”

Israel says its blockade, in place since March 2, aims to pressure the Palestinian militant group into concessions. But it came under increasing international pressure to restore aid to Gaza, where UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.

(With agency inputs)