For months, Israel has tried to pressure Hamas by both threatening a major new ground offensive in Gaza and simultaneously cutting off aid to the territory.
On Monday, Israel made a U-turn on aid, allowing a few trucks of food to enter Gaza. And despite escalating its rhetoric and its airstrikes on Gaza in recent days, the Israeli military had yet to begin the long-awaited major advance that would involve thousands of ground troops.
The lack of strategic clarity reflects disagreements within its leadership about Israel’s national priorities.
On aid, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must balance right-wing political allies who oppose sending food to Gaza, and foreign allies — including the Trump administration — who feared the blockade would lead to famine. The equivocation over the ground invasion reflects Mr. Netanyahu’s need to satisfy far-right cabinet ministers, who are pushing for the full re-occupation of Gaza, and Israel’s top generals, who believe such a move would be difficult to sustain and dangerous to hostages held in Gaza.
“Netanyahu, as always, prefers to buy time and not to decide,” said Daniel B. Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
“While far-right ministers in Israel seek permanent control of Gaza, the military leadership has doubts about the sustainability of permanent occupation, given the concerns over the willingness of military reservists to staff it over a long-term period, and worries about the fate of the hostages,” said Mr. Shapiro, now a fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research group.
The delay to the ground operation is also because Israel is waiting to see how Hamas responds to a new and intense round of negotiations over a cease-fire, amid pressure from the Trump administration for the two sides to reach a truce. Israel has been pressing Hamas to release several hostages, in exchange for a temporary truce, while Hamas has been holding out for a permanent deal. But Israel hopes that the fear of losing more territory may prompt Hamas to settle for less.
“Everything has to be read in the context of negotiations for a new cease-fire and hostage deal,” said Shira Efron, director of research at Israel Policy Forum, a New York-based research group.
“Israel has started a new ground operation, but it’s all still reversible,” Dr. Efron said. “For now, this is a negotiating tool — it puts more pressure on Hamas to compromise in the talks.”
Just as the delay to the ground operation gives negotiators more time to find a compromise, the U-turn on aid gives Israel more time to continue its bombardment of Gaza.
In recent days, the Trump administration — Israel’s main foreign backer — joined a long list of foreign leaders to warn of starvation in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu said the resumption of aid was a response to such criticism and an attempt to sustain foreign support for Israel’s campaign.
“We must not reach a point of starvation — both as a matter of fact but also as a diplomatic issue,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video posted online. Without the resumption of aid, Israel “will simply not be supported, and we will not be able to achieve victory,” Mr. Netanyahu added.
It was a shift in tone that would have been unimaginable just days ago.
Since March, Israel had prevented food and fuel from reaching Gaza, even as aid groups, and some Israeli soldiers, warned that the territory was on the brink of starvation.
The Israeli government dismissed such claims, saying that there were more than enough food stockpiles in Gaza to prevent a famine. If aid resumed, Israel said it would be distributed by a new private company that would circumvent both the United Nations, which ran aid distribution, and Hamas, which Israel has accused of stealing and profiting from the assistance.
But on Monday, Israel once again asked the United Nations to revive its aid operation, the U.N. said. The private company earmarked to replace the U.N. — the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — is not fully operational, and so Israel must still rely on help from established aid agencies. .
The reversal on aid highlighted Mr. Netanyahu’s juggling act, Dr. Efron said.
“Netanyahu is trying to do a little bit of everything,” she said. “By announcing a bigger ground operation, he is showing his base he is doing something. By announcing the resumption of aid, he is responding to pressure from the Trump administration, while buying more time for hostage negotiations.”
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel; Myra Noveck from Jerusalem; and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad from Haifa, Israel.
Patrick Kingsley is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
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