ISRAEL plans to set up distribution centers in southern Gaza and move a large number of Palestinians there, as it tries to balance international outrage over a blockade of aid to the enclave with continued pressure on Hamas.
Israel cut off all deliveries to Gaza and relaunched military operations in early March after a six-week truce with Palestinian militant group Hamas fell apart. Blocking the entry of humanitarian aid is part of a campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to soften Hamas’ conditions for a potential new truce and return hostages — 59 are still held captive, although less than half are believed to be alive.
Aid centers will be established in the army-controlled buffer zone around Gaza, with several to be located in Rafah, according to Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. The heads of Palestinian families will be admited to distribution points to receive food packages, but anyone deemed to be a Hamas member will be excluded from the zone, the officials said. No implementation date or additional details were given.
Dwindling stocks of food and other essentials alarm humanitarian groups, with the United Nations saying last month that Gaza is experiencing “probably the worst humanitarian situation ever seen throughout the war.” The crisis drew a rare nudge from US President Donald Trump, even if he echoed Israeli allegations that Iran-backed Hamas has been seizing aid for its fighters and for resale.
Trump is scheduled to visit the Gulf next week, where he’s expected to secure deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for potentially billions of dollars of investments in the US. The regional geopolitical situation is also likely to be discussed — the Arab countries have voiced concern about the crisis facing Gaza’s more than 2 million residents.
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
Plans to establish aid-distribution points in Rafah correspond to past Israeli efforts to create Hamas-free bubbles in parts of Gaza. Those projects stumbled amid disputes as to whether civilian aid should be distributed by the army or foreign contractors. Hamas has also proven dogged, recruiting fresh fighters in parts of Gaza repeatedly overrun by the army.
Israeli tanks and troops have carved out buffer zones on the Gaza periphery, including one 5 kilometers (3 miles) deep along the border with Egypt. Civilians have fled Rafah, the main city there, which was home to 300,000 Gazans before the war. Buildings have been razed, in what Israel describes as a hunt for concealed enemy emplacements but many — including several EU countries — condemn as an unwarranted demolition of Gazan society.
Netanyahu’s government said it’s poised to occupy the entire enclave if there is no breakthrough in mediated hostage talks with Hamas. But it has also signaled it will hold off until after Trump’s visit to the region next week in hopes of a hostage deal.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that should truce talks remain stalled, the offensive would be escalated and “the entire Gaza population will be evacuated to lands in southern Gaza.”
Aid Groups Balk
Israel’s Army Radio cited unidentified defense officials as saying that under the plan each Palestinian family will receive enough food to survive and that US organizations and private companies will oversee the distribution. Specific organizations and companies weren’t named.
International assistance groups, briefed by Israel on plans to create aid hubs operated under military mandated rules, say they’re inadequate.
“It appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid and we have warned against that for a very long time. Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA.)
The UN’s World Food Programme says its Gaza stocks are depleted, and the World Central Kitchen — a group founded by celebrity chef José Andrés providing food relief to disaster areas — halted the supply of meals and bread in Gaza.
Fruit vanished from markets, and vegetables and meat are either scarce or very expensive. Rola Abu Baraka, a resident of the southern town of Khan Younis, said she and her four children have been skipping meals and are reduced to eating two snacks a day, obtained from communal kitchens.
“Yesterday, the distribution ended as my son was lining up, so we had nothing to eat for dinner,” she said.
Israeli officials have said enough remains for a few weeks — though their assessment may include food held by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and many other countries.
Officials from aid organizations say supplies were mostly reaching those in need.
The manmade & politically motivated starvation in #Gaza is an expression of absolute cruelty.
It cannot be adressed by weaponising humanitarian assistance.
Humanitarian agencies have a set of principles to ensure assistance is delivered to all those in need, without… https://t.co/T6g9cATlVS
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) May 6, 2025
Hamas killed about 1,200 people and abducted 250 others in an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack that triggered the war in Gaza. The ensuing fighting killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and soldiers. Israel lost hundreds of troops in combat. –BLOOMBERG
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