"Gaza's population must not sink into starvation, for both practical and diplomatic reasons," says Netanyahu in a video on his Telegram channel, according to news agencies.
He adds that Israel's friends do not tolerate "images of mass starvation". The country's allies have expressed concern that "images of hunger" are spreading and threatening to cut off their support to the country.
Among others, the EU and the US have pressured Netanyahu's government, and threats of sanctions have also occurred, according to the Israeli TV channel Keshet 12.
A Drop in the Ocean?
But the aid that is allowed in will be "minimal", according to Netanyahu, who does not specify exactly when the emergency aid can be resumed or what it will contain.
Israel has blocked aid shipments to Gaza since March 2. According to the country, the blockade aims to put further pressure on the terrorist-stamped Hamas, which governs Gaza and whose large-scale attack on Israel in 2023 triggered the ongoing war. But the UN and aid organizations have repeatedly warned of unimaginable suffering among the civilian population and that food and medical supplies in Gaza are depleted.
The UN tells AP that 20 trucks with food are waiting to get clearance to drive into the Gaza Strip and that it is expected to happen on Monday.
20 trucks are, however, a drop in the area, which before the war saw several hundred trucks with aid crossing the border daily.
Netanyahu's statement comes after a night when several dozen people were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
In Khan Yunis, among other things, Nasser Hospital and a school that housed children who were forced to flee their homes, were attacked, according to the Israeli Haaretz. Dozens of attacks were carried out, both from planes and helicopters. At least eleven people were killed and many were injured in the city, according to reports from Gaza's civil defense to AFP.
In Jabaliya in the north, five people were killed in an airstrike against a market. And in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, three members of the same family are said to have lost their lives in an attack on the tent where they lived. Deadly attacks were also carried out in Gaza City and in Beit Lahia, reports the civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal to AFP.
The reports come shortly after the country launched a comprehensive ground offensive in Gaza. On Sunday, over 140 people were killed in the area.
