The announcement came in a seemingly unusual fashion on Sunday, when it was first published through the Israeli military’s channels in English and Arabic: The army will “pause” its daytime fighting along a major humanitarian aid corridor in southern Gaza until further notice.
Amid some immediate confusion about the scope of the hiatus, a clarification followed, this time in Hebrew and ostensibly for domestic consumption. The change did not mean an end to fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, the statement said, adding that the campaign in the southernmost town of Rafah continued. Military officials said the daily pauses were only intended to facilitate increased distribution of food aid to Gaza, where international organizations have issued dire warnings of famine.
The strange choreography of the messages became even stranger when the government suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only learned of the army’s plan from news reports and signaled his disapproval.
But analysts said it was likely the prime minister was aware of the plan and that each announcement was tailored to different audiences. The whipsaw remarks appeared to reflect the competing pressures facing Mr. Netanyahu as he juggles the demands of the Biden administration and elsewhere around the world with those of his own hawkish administration. His far-right coalition partners oppose any concessions in Gaza, and he relies on their support to stay in power.
The new policy surrounding the humanitarian corridor – where the army said it would halt fighting daily from 8am to 7pm – took effect on Saturday, according to military officials. But Mr Netanyahu hinted that he did not learn of the plans until Sunday morning.
“It’s classic Bibi,” said Amos Harel, the military affairs analyst for the left-wing Haaretz newspaper, referring to Mr. Netanyahu by his nickname. Like other experts, he said the announcement was unlikely to come as a complete surprise to him, even if military commanders did not inform him of the exact timing of what they called a change in tactics.
“He has a mask for every occasion,” Mr. Harel said in an interview. “For the Americans, he needs to show that he is doing more to get help. For the Israeli public he can say ‘I didn’t know’ and make a reasonable denial.”
A statement issued on Sunday by an unnamed government official, whose name and title could not be released in accordance with protocol, said that when Mr. Netanyahu learned of the humanitarian pause, he found it unacceptable. The prime minister was later assured, the statement added, that there had been no change in the army’s plans regarding the fighting in Rafah, the southern Gaza city near the strip that has been the focus of recent operations.
Shani Sasson, a spokeswoman for Cogat, Israel’s agency that oversees policy on the Palestinian territories and works with international organizations, said the move was meant to help clear a truck backlog of more than 1,000 trucks that had already been inspected by Israel. and they waited on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
“We are asking humanitarian organizations to come and take the aid and distribute it,” Ms Sasson said. “It’s up to them.”
The army move coincided with the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and uncertainty over the fate of an Israeli ceasefire proposal with Hamas, which includes a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Officials said Hamas had requested some unenforceable changes to the proposal backed by the Biden administration and approved by the United Nations Security Council.
The “regular pause” also comes as Israel anticipates another international report due this month on food insecurity in Gaza. A previous report in March warned that half of Gaza’s population faces “catastrophic” food insecurity and imminent famine.
Mr Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, also have the threat of arrest, on war crimes charges, by the International Criminal Court in The Hague hanging over them. They were accused of using hunger as a weapon of war.
Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last stronghold of organized Hamas factions and the military operation there as the last major step in the war. The army has now gained control of the corridor along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, long a major conduit for arms smuggling into the territory.
Israelis are increasingly wondering where the war goes from here and when it will end. The costs for both sides are constantly increasing. At least 10 Israeli soldiers were killed in combat this weekend, and an 11th died of wounds sustained a few days earlier.
About 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel that sparked the war, and a total of more than 300 Israeli soldiers have since been killed in combat.
More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 this weekend, Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief and now centrist politician who resigned from the wartime emergency government along with his party leader Benny Gantz last week, accused Mr. Netanyahu for putting his political needs first. those of national security.
Mr. Eisenkot said the influence of one of Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, was a constant presence in the war cabinet discussions, even though Mr. Ben-Gvir is not is a member of this decision-making body.
Mr Ben-Gvir and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have openly criticized the military leadership during the war and have also vowed to topple Mr Netanyahu’s government if he agrees to a ceasefire deal before Hamas is completely destroyed — a goal many experts say is unattainable.
Predictably, Mr Ben-Gvir was quick on Sunday to attack the army’s announcement of the humanitarian pause in a social media post, denouncing it as a “crazy and delusional approach” and adding that “the evil fool” who he decided “he must not continue in his place.”
Mr. Ben-Gvir did not specify who he meant.
Gabby Sobelman contributed to the report.
