Israel announced that no aid would enter Gaza for at least two days, claiming that Hamas had seized some shipments. While Palestinians deny the aid was diverted, some Israeli ministers are calling for shipments to be ended entirely. 

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that aid would stop entering Gaza until the Israeli Defense Ministry can work on a plan to keep aid from falling into the hands of Hamas. However, Tel Aviv did not provide evidence that Palestinian militants were seizing the shipments. 

One Palestinian official said armed men have escorted the aid shipments to prevent looting. Tel Aviv has backed a Palestinian group with ties to ISIS that has stolen some aid shipments. 

Currently, a limited amount of aid is entering the Strip to be distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The GHF has been met with intense scrutiny from other aid agencies, as obtaining aid at the GHF site has become deadly for Palestinian aid seekers. In the one month the GHF was in operation, 549 Palestinians were killed by the IDF attempting to reach aid sites. 

Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, is calling for Tel Aviv to end all aid shipments to the Strip. He claimed that any aid reaching the starving people of Gaza is “an absolute disgrace.” Ben Gvir added he wanted “not a temporary halt to ‘humanitarian’ aid, but a complete stop.”

The minister went on to say, “Halting aid will expedite reaching victory. I will demand that the prime minister bring the issue of introducing aid to the sector to a vote again in the next cabinet session.”