Israel’s Gaza City Offensive Plan Faces Internal Rifts, Global Warnings

Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City has sparked deep divisions within its own government, drawn warnings from its military, and triggered growing international alarm, as the United Nations Security Council prepares to meet later on Sunday to discuss the move.

As reported by Reuters, The security cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approved the offensive expansion by majority on Friday, aiming to deliver a decisive blow to Hamas. But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of the cabinet, rejected the plan, urging Netanyahu to scrap it in favor of a harsher strategy. Smotrich accused Netanyahu of lacking the will to achieve victory over Hamas, saying the current approach amounted to “more of the same.”

While hardline ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have called for the full military occupation of Gaza and the removal of much of its Palestinian population, Israel’s military leadership has cautioned that a larger offensive could endanger the lives of the roughly 20 hostages believed to still be alive in Gaza and risk entangling troops in protracted guerrilla warfare.

CNN reported that Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned the operation could become Israel’s “Vietnam,” urging Netanyahu to heed military warnings and back a UN-led mission—headed by Arab nations—to reunify a Palestinian state. He confirmed Italy’s willingness to participate in such a mission, though Arab states have so far shown little interest in sending troops.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, already severe, is expected to worsen if the plan proceeds. According to the United Nations, aid entering Gaza remains far below needs, despite Israel’s announcement that nearly 1,900 aid trucks entered last week via Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.

On Saturday, tragedy struck when a 14-year-old boy was killed after a parachuted aid box fell on a tent encampment in central Gaza—a death caught on video and verified by Reuters. This brings the total number of fatalities from aid airdrops to 23 since the war began, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government. Officials have repeatedly called for the delivery of aid through land crossings to avoid such accidents.

The enclave’s health ministry reported that five more people, including two children, died from malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total deaths from hunger-related causes to 217—100 of them children.

The conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages. Israeli authorities say that of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 are alive.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and reduced much of the territory to rubble. On Sunday, Gaza medics reported at least six more Palestinian deaths—four from an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis and two from fire on crowds seeking aid in central Gaza. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incidents.

As per Reuters, Netanyahu prepares to address both domestic and international audiences later today, pressure is intensifying from within Israel, the international community, and humanitarian agencies to reconsider the military course and prioritize a ceasefire.