After days of relentless bombing attacks in Gaza that were renewed as additional pressure on Hamas to release their remaining Israeli hostages, Israel began the ground phase of its long threatened “Gideon’s Chariots” operation to try and crush Hamas once and for all by completely occupying what’s left of the Gaza Strip.
And after 11 weeks of a total blockade in which Israel allowed absolutely nothing into Gaza (no food, water, fuel, or even medical supplies), and where at least 20% of the civilian population faces imminent starvation, Western pressure finally seems to have forced at least a tiny opening in that utterly medieval blockade. CNN has a fairly comprehensive and objective look at the events leading up to what could be a decisive new development in this latest Israeli-Palestinian war that is now into its 20th month, and the growing international pressure on Israel:
Israel has for weeks been warning about operation “Gideon’s Chariots,” saying it is aimed at achieving “all the goals of the war in Gaza,” including defeating Hamas and securing the release of remaining hostages in the territory.
The operation was approved by the country’s Security Cabinet on May 5, a senior security official told CNN previously, adding that unlike in the past, the military will remain in areas it captures.
On Monday, Netanyahu said that Israel plans to “take control of the entire Gaza Strip.”
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The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada have called on the Israeli government to stop its military operations in Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” a joint statement from the leaders read.
Those actions could include targeted sanctions, they warned.
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In one of the strongest condemnations of Israel’s war by a high-ranking UN official, [aid chief Tom] Fletcher said the international community must prevent “genocide” in the enclave. “Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead, ‘we did all we could?’” he told the UN Security Council.
And what Netanyahu is telling his even more extremist political allies in Israel is quite telling as to why he decided to allow at least a trickle of aid in now:
Earlier Monday, Netanyahu had conceded that if “a situation of famine” arose in Gaza, Israel “simply won’t receive international support.”
“Even our closest allies in the world – US senators I know personally and who have been staunch, unconditional supporters of Israel for decades – are coming to me and saying: ‘We are giving you all the support to achieve victory – weapons, support for your efforts to eliminate Hamas, protection at the UN Security Council – but there’s one thing we cannot accept: images of mass starvation… If that happens, we won’t be able to support you anymore,’” Netanyahu said in an address posted to Telegram.
Netanyahu’s explanations were largely aimed at mollifying his right-wing supporters who adamantly oppose the entry of any humanitarian aid to Gaza, including to civilians.
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1st UPDATE: The UK starts taking concrete action against Israel, from the AP:
The British government on Tuesday suspended free trade talks with Israel and hit West Bank settlers with sanctions, hours after vowing “concrete actions” if Israel didn't stop its new military offensive in Gaza.
Pressure from close allies is mounting on Israel following a nearly three-month blockade of supplies into Gaza that led to famine warnings. Even the United States, a staunch ally, has voiced concerns over the hunger crisis.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the government couldn't continue discussions on an existing trade agreement with an Israeli government pursuing what he called egregious policies in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“History will judge them," Lammy said. "Blocking aid. Expanding the war. Dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible. And it must stop.”
Lammy said the U.K. was imposing sanctions on a further “three individuals, two illegal settler outposts and two organizations supporting violence against the Palestinian community.”
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“I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel,” Starmer said.
Israeli's ambassador to the U.K., Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office, where Middle East minister Hamish Falconer planned to call the 11-week blockade of aid to Gaza “cruel and indefensible.”
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Starmer said a ceasefire was the only way to free the dozens of hostages Hamas still holds. He also called for increased shipments of humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying the basic quantity allowed by Israel is “utterly inadequate.”
“This war has gone on for far too long,” Starmer said. “We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve.”
And even Trump may have reached his limit with Netanyahu, from Mediaite:
President Donald Trump reportedly grew “upset” after seeing images of Gazan children and babies, and is privately urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring his country’s military campaign in Gaza to an end, according to senior White House officials.
Trump was especially disturbed by images of Palestinian children wounded or killed in airstrikes, officials told Axios, and pressed Israeli leadership to resume humanitarian aid. That pressure reportedly played a role in Israel’s Sunday cabinet decision to allow limited supplies, including baby food and other essentials, back into the territory.
“The president is frustrated about what is happening in Gaza,” one official said. “He wants the war to end, he wants the hostages to come home, he wants aid to go in and he wants to start rebuilding Gaza.”
Meanwhile in Israel itself, Yahir Golan, the leader of what passes for the ‘liberal’ opposition to Netanyahu, has a powerful opinion piece in Haaretz:
As a major economic, political, and security shift unfolds in the Middle East, Israel's strategic standing – both in the region and globally – is collapsing under the weight of a failed prime minister.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who once presented himself as a true friend of Israel, is advancing a new regional order driven not by shared values but by money. Personal and global economic interests are pushing aside the old order and sentimental alliances. The U.S. now speaks only one language: the language of big money. And big money requires a stable region. From Washington's perspective, that means the war in Gaza must end. Anyone who fails to grasp this will simply be left behind.
In the eyes of the American administration, the war in Gaza and the lingering confrontation with the Houthis in Yemen are no longer strategic imperatives – they're liabilities. In this evolving reality, Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu is not an asset, but a burden. This reality may even include reviving negotiations with Iran, potentially leading to a new nuclear deal similar to the 2015 agreement.
But in Israel, a prime minister focused entirely on his own political survival is incapable of responding to these changes. And as regional and global wheels turn at breakneck speed, the Israeli government remains frozen and – and far outside the room where decision are being made.
Netanyahu, once hailed as a Trump whisperer, is now merely a puppet played by an even greater manipulator. In this new Trump era, he is no longer the charismatic figure dictating the agenda and receiving ovations in Congress. He's become a failed supporting actor in a drama he no longer controls.
The Americans are now building their regional order with the Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris – and even with the Syrians and Turks. The criteria are simple: those who join the economic and normalization track are in. Those clinging to fantasies of expulsion, annexation, and endless war are out.
The whole opinion piece is well worth reading, particularly in light of his most recent statement today as reported by NBC News:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with anger Tuesday after a former senior military official said Israel risked becoming “a pariah state” over the war in Gaza.
“A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a pastime, and does not engage in mass population displacement,” Yair Golan, a left-wing opposition voice and the former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, said in a charged interview with local radio station Reshet Bet.
Comparing Israel's actions to those of South Africa’s during the decades of apartheid, the leader of the small Democrats party and longtime critic of Netanyahu, added, “The Jewish people, who have endured persecution, pogroms, and genocides throughout our history .. are the ones now taking actions that are utterly unconscionable.”
And in a follow-up with the Times of Israel, Golan further elaborated:
(Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
In a televised address to the nation, The Democrats party chairman Yair Golan pushes back against widespread criticism over his comments this morning that Israel was killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby,” arguing that his “criticism was directed against the government, not the IDF.”
“I said this morning that we are a sane country that does not kill children. When ministers in this government celebrate the death and starvation of children, we must say so. I was referring solely to the most failed government in Israel’s history — not to the IDF. Our mission is to ensure that Israel remains a sane country that does not kill children either as a hobby or as a policy,” Golan declares.
“A government that says that it is possible to abandon hostages and that children should be starved is a government that sounds like a Hamas spokesman. A government that talks about an atomic bomb in Gaza is not a Jewish government, and it is certainly not Zionist,” he continues, asserting that the IDF “is my home and it is my heart.”
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Turning to the criticism against him, Golan says that he is “not frightened by the poison machine,” nor “by the bullying” or “the attempt to terrorize anyone who dares to speak the truth.”
Speaking with national broadcaster Kan this morning, the retired general said that “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country.”
