Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a stop on Wednesday evening, reports the newspaper Haaretz. The message comes after Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to leave the government.
Smotrich points to a video circulating on social media where armed men are seen taking over trucks with aid deliveries. According to Smotrich, the video shows that the aid deliveries end up in the hands of terrorist-stamped Hamas and not the civilian population.
After Smotrich's threat, Netanyahu announced, together with the country's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, that they had instructed the Israeli army on an action plan to prevent Hamas from "stealing from civilians".
On Thursday, Israeli military killed 56 people in Gaza, according to the war-torn area's civil defense, according to AFP. Six of them are said to have been killed while waiting to receive aid at two different locations.
On Wednesday, about 80 people were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza. Since the end of May, nearly 550 people have been killed in connection with seeking aid, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled area.
In addition to daily bombardments, the people of Gaza are suffering from starvation-like conditions. Israel long blocked the import of aid to the area. The limited aid that has been allowed in recently is distributed by the criticized Israeli-American organization Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The UN and other established organizations have been shut out. Israel claims that it only shoots at people who behave suspiciously and pose a threat.
