IDF poised to resume entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza later this month, report claims, with new plan to circumvent Hamas by handing goods directly over to Gaza civilians – with the help of international aid groups.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
Israel is preparing to resume the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza in the coming weeks, according to a report published Friday, under a new plan aimed at preventing Hamas from seizing incoming goods.
According to an Israeli official and an Arab official familiar with the plans who were cited in an Axios report, the IDF is poised to facilitate the resumption of aid transfers later this month, ending two-and-a-half months of siege during which the entry of aid trucks was suspended, following the collapse of the January 19th ceasefire.
For weeks, Israel’s security establishment has mulled paths for resuming aid transfers, amid concerns that key goods – including food, fuel, and medical supplies – will begin to run out by late May.
Thus far, however, senior defense officials and government ministers have yet to reach a consensus on to resume the distribution of aid while barring Hamas terrorists from taking control of the flow of goods as they reach the Strip.
In late April, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (Likud) told the security cabinet that his ministry was drafting plans to resume aid transfers to Gaza, using a combination of IDF forces and private American contractors to secure the distribution of the aid and prevent its theft by Hamas terrorists.
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir objected, stating that the army would not risk soldiers to guard aid transfers, while intimating that it would ensure the entry of aid, even if it was seized by Hamas, saying that allowing a famine in Gaza was not an option.
The security cabinet failed to reach an agreement on the issue, but according to the officials cited by Axios, the U.S. and Israel are close to reaching a deal on the matter, after President Donald Trump said he had pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume aid transfers to Gaza, saying “we’ve got to be good to Gaza.”
Under the new plan being hammered out by the U.S. and Israel, incoming humanitarian aid will be dropped off at depots set to be constructed inside the Gaza Strip in areas inside the IDF security perimeter.
While IDF troops will not directly secure the warehouses used to distribute aid, Israeli forces will provide security over the general area, while armed private contractors will guard the compounds themselves.
International aid groups, secured by private contractors, will carry out the actual aid distribution, the report claimed.
The aid will be transferred directly to Gaza families, with packages including enough food for several days being handed over at regular intervals to designated family members from each household in Gaza.
According to a report by The Times of Israel, the aid distribution centers will be established in the Israeli security zone in southern Gaza, with Gazans from across the Strip required to travel regularly to the south to pick up the aid packages.
This has raised concerns that the family representatives will be vulnerable while en route to and from the aid warehouses.
“They’ll be like sitting ducks,” an Arab official told the Times.
To reduce the risk of Hamas stealing large quantities of incoming aid – which the terror group used in the past to help fund its operations in Gaza – the plan calls for limiting the size of aid packages, requiring additional aid pickups every few days.
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