Israel expects ‘significant crisis’ in Gaza as it plans to continue total blockade
A truck carrying an Israeli military buldozzer by the fence of the Israel-Gaza border as seen from Israel, 20 April 2025
Nadav Rapaport reports in Middle East Eye on 22 April 2025:
Israel will continue its complete blockade of Gaza, with the army expecting a “significant crisis” to unfold in the Palestinian enclave in two weeks.
According to a report on Israeli news site Walla, the Israeli military is not concerned about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been without any humanitarian aid for the last 51 days after Israel declared its total blockade.
Sources in Israel’s Southern Command, who spoke to Walla, estimated that “in two weeks, a significant crisis will begin in the Gaza Strip regarding food, medical equipment and medicines”.
According to these sources, Palestinians in Gaza “will adapt to the situation over the coming months, as long as they have flour, water and reasonable shelter”.
In a statement released on Monday, the UN body OCHA said that since Israel began its blockade, “not a single truck carrying food, fuel, medicine or any other essentials has been allowed in – no matter how critical they are for people’s survival”.
Last week, the UN agency stated that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities.” This appears to be of little interest to Southern Command, which is more concerned, according to the Walla report, with Hamas’ next steps.
Sources in the regional army unit expect the Palestinian group to use the acute humanitarian crisis to “force Israel to deliver food and medicine,” using international media reports on the situation as leverage. A separate report on Israel’s Kan 11 said that the Israeli military estimates that humanitarian aid will run out within a month, and that the army is dealing with how to deliver humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
However, according to the report, Israel believes that the total blockade of Gaza will help release the captives held by Hamas and that without their release, “the situation in Gaza will worsen”.
‘No humanitarian aid’
Last week, Israeli media reported that the military was planning to resume the supply of humanitarian aid to Gaza. But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz clarified in a statement on his X account that “Israel’s policy is clear and no humanitarian aid is about to enter Gaza.” “Preventing humanitarian aid to Gaza is one of the main tools of pressure” on Hamas, according to Katz, who said that “no one is going in the current reality to deliver any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and we are not preparing to bring any kind of aid into Gaza”.