Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.
The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT (6am to 5pm Irish time) in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.
“When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him,” an Israeli official said.
The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed yesterday.
The reaction from Mr Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organisations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Mr Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a “fool” who should lose their job.
The disagreement was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.
It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.
The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.
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Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.
Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said there was a “definite need” to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.
Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the 7 October attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.
Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.
Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government’s aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage.
Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israel warns of escalation
Intensified cross-border fire from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant movement into Israel could prompt serious escalation, the Israeli military said.
“Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement in English.
Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest salvo of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war.
After the relatively heavy exchanges over the past week, there was a decrease in Hezbollah fire today, while the Israeli military said that it had carried out several air strikes against the group in southern Lebanon.
The US and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border.
Hezbollah said it will not halt fire unless Israel stops its military offensive in Gaza.
“Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians – until security along our border with Lebanon is restored,” Mr Hagari said.
Read more: Gazans mark sombre Eid in shadow of war
