Netanyahu warns of taking offensive to Gaza areas still beyond Israeli control — the shelter for 2 million Palestinians

Netanyahu’s plan may be some time away from getting implemented on the ground as a mobilisation beyond Gaza City, once the most populous area of the enclave, will take weeks. That is leading some to believe that the latest pronouncement by Bibi, as Netanyahu is known, may be a pressure tactic to extract more from Hamas during negotiations.

The militant group still holds some Israeli hostages abducted during the attack on October 7, 2023, nearly 22 months ago, and the Israeli PM has underlined that the offensive will come to an end when all hostages are released and Hamas militants surrender.

Israel currently holds nearly two-thirds of Gaza and any broadening of Israeli operations will likely be catastrophic, bringing further death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory. This will also birth a renewed flight of people who are already battling a severe hunger crisis.

Last week, Israel unveiled plans to take over Gaza City, which has seen major raids and heavy bombardment throughout the war. Bombs dropped from Israeli planes and tanks killed at least 11 people in the area on Tuesday, witnesses and medics said. Netanyahu has now revealed that operations will also cover the area of “central camps” and beyond.

This was likely a reference to Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza that “date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation,” news agency Associated Press reported. Israel has bombarded the area almost every day since its military retaliation began but no big ground operations in the area have been reported so far.

Israel’s military chief against Netanyahu’s plan

Even Israel’s military chief of staff is not bullish about the plan, warning it could put the lives of the surviving hostages into danger. Moreover, it could end up as a death trap for Israeli soldiers. Foreign ministers of 24 countries including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said on Tuesday the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached “unimaginable levels”. “Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the foreign ministers of 24 countries said in a joint statement. They have urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the enclave.

That is crucial considering that five more people, including two children, died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said.  The new deaths raised the number of such deaths to 227, including 103 children, since the war started, it added.

Israel, on its part, accuses Hamas of stealing aid and denies any responsibility for hunger in Gaza, including the resultant deaths.

Hamas leader looks to salvage US-led talks

Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya is due in Cairo for talks to revive a US-backed ceasefire plan. The latest round, held in Qatar, ended in deadlock in late July as Israel and the Palestinian militant group blamed each other for the snail’s pace of progress on a US proposal for a 60-day truce and plans for hostage release. Mediators are now seeking to revive that truce proposal.

“Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war,” the official told Reuters.

Investments in Israel may take hit

The world’s biggest wealth fund, which manages $2 trillion, has said that a review of investments into Israeli companies is likely. Norges Bank Investment Management, the Norway wealth fund, said this is part of its ongoing review of its portfolio over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank and may lead to some funds being pulled out, or divested. The fund had previously said it was ending contracts with all three of its external asset managers that handled some of its Israeli investments and “has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.

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