{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_7/article_2/index_u65.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_7/index_u15.html\", \"frag\": \"article_0\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_7\"}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"Who will feed the strip?","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"Israel’s radical new course in Gaza","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"A deeply flawed plan to fight Hamas and feed Gazans","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:49 | JERUSALEM","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u13.jpg"],["title","Displaced Palestinians queue for hot meals amid worsening crisis in Gaza"],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_7/article_0/images/img1_u13.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"O","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"N MAY 5TH","l":" Israel’s cabinet changed course on Gaza in dramatic fashion. It decided to “expand” military operations in the strip again and put in place a new plan to distribute aid to Gaza’s population. Israel’s hard right sees a path to a permanent reoccupation. Generals in the Israel Defence Forces (","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":") believe the plan will allow a temporary surge to crush what remains of ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Hamas","l":". Israel’s critics think it will guarantee even more civilian misery and death. The pivot comes at a crucial moment. President Donald Trump will visit the Gulf states on May 13th-16th, with Gaza on the agenda. Inside Gaza a ","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/01/29/hamas-talks-a-big-game-but-is-in-chaos"]]},{"n":"a","x":"shortage of food","l":" is at a critical point: some accuse Israel of a policy of starvation.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/03/27/gaza-is-on-the-brink-of-a-man-made-famine"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"For over two months Israel has enforced a total blockade of the strip. It has stopped food or medicines from entering and cut off electricity supplies, so that desalination plants and many pumps have been unable to function. Israel has severed aid before, but this is the longest blockade since the war began after the Hamas massacres of October 7th 2023. Gaza has been stuck in a military limbo since ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"the ceasefire collapsed","l":" in late March. The fighting is less intense, with the weekly death toll about half what it was before. In total 52,000 Gazans, including combatants, have probably now been killed (see next article).","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/04/09/israel-is-intent-on-destroying-gaza"]]}]},{"n":"blockquote","a":[["class","calibre20"]],"c":[{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"a","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/topics/war-in-the-middle-east"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"Read all our coverage of the war in the Middle East","a":[["class","calibre18"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"p","x":"The aid cut-off has led Palestinians and aid organisations to warn of starvation and even famine. The charges are especially loaded because claims of imminent famine in 2024 by international organisations, together with the stated intention of some Israeli politicians to deny Gaza food, bolstered the case for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s leaders for alleged war crimes and another case, on genocide, in the International Court of Justice. Those predictions of famine turned out to be badly wrong. Yet the idea that Israel is prepared to use food for leverage is right.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Today Israel insists sufficient supplies of food and medicine surged into the strip in the seven-week ceasefire to sustain its civilians: around 25,000 lorries’ worth in total. It claims shortages are manufactured by Hamas, which it says has seized supplies and is manipulating food markets to fill its coffers, pay its members and control the population. Israel accuses aid groups of being naive or complicit. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Yet on the ground there is no doubt of severe suffering. Grocery shops stand empty, bakeries have closed and communal kitchens are overwhelmed by families who might receive one hot meal a day at most. “The main warehouse we use to distribute food in Gaza City is now empty,” says Olga Cherevko, a ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"UN","l":" spokeswoman. “We recycle water many times,” says a former civil servant in the city. Tents are next to piles of solid waste. “People live like animals,” says Khaled Dawas, a doctor.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Food prices have rocketed. Some items cost 700% more than before the war, says the ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"UN","l":"’s World Food Programme (","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"WFP","l":"). A sack of flour that once cost 50 shekels ($14) goes for 1,200 ($330). The ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"WFP","l":" delivered the last food from its warehouses on April 25th. Akram, a teacher displaced from north Gaza, sends his sons to queue with a pot. One day they got bean stew, the next, soup. The family of five supplements this with pasta and cans of tuna stockpiled in the ceasefire. They have not gone a full day without food, one yardstick of famine. But “we go to sleep hungry every night”. Akram’s stash will run out in two weeks. There is a glut of cooking oil but no fuel.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Agricultural land across the south of the strip is under Israeli occupation. Some 78% of greenhouses are damaged or destroyed, along with 72% of the fishing fleet. Only 1% of Gaza’s pre-war chickens remain. Malnutrition, especially among children, is rising. Gaza’s health authority, overseen by Hamas, says 57 people have died of starvation since the start of the war. Sources in international agencies say these deaths were probably caused by pre-existing conditions, but malnutrition may have been a contributing factor.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Even Israeli officials admit that food for the general population will run out in weeks. The ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":"’s new chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, appointed for his toughness, has said the army will not use starvation as a military tactic. Officers have urged Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, to resume supplies. But the ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":" also wants to disrupt what remains of Hamas’s economic networks. One idea floated is to withdraw from circulation the 200-shekel note, used in Gaza, in order to annul Hamas’s reserves.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"h4","x":"A terrible idea","a":[["class","calibre15"]]},{"n":"p","x":"For now Israel’s focus is on the new plan. With the backing of America, Israel will establish “distribution hubs” in Gaza. A representative of each family will be allowed to collect a package of food and hygiene products that will last two weeks. Eventually there could be ten hubs, but initially just one or two will be set up in the south as a pilot. The ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":" will secure the convoy routes to the hubs and their outer perimeters. Private American “contractors”, a more respectable term for mercenaries, will provide security inside. On May 4th a forum of ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"UN","l":" agencies and other ","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":"NGO","l":"s said the plan was “dangerous, driving civilians into militarised zones to collect rations, threatening lives”.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"The plan has huge flaws. It leaves the Palestinians reliant on subsistence-level rationing indefinitely. It is unclear how hospitals and refugee shelters will be supplied. A shadowy international foundation has been set up to pay for the contractors, but no details have been given about its donors (America’s government is involved). Israeli officials expect aid groups will eventually capitulate and join the hubs once they realise this is the only way aid will get into Gaza without Hamas being in tacit control.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"The aid plan is meant to complement the ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":"’s military operations. The cabinet on May 5th also authorised the “expansion” of ground operations, though the details have yet to be specified. Some ministers want Israel to occupy the entire strip, corralling Gazans around the aid hubs. General Zamir opposes this, warning it would endanger the hostages and that the","a":[["class","calibre14"]]},{"n":"span","x":" IDF","l":" may not have enough troops.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Occupying most of Gaza’s territory and forcing its population away from their homes towards the distribution hubs will take months, and require the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists. In some reserve units, where soldiers are exhausted and disillusioned (having already served for hundreds of days), only half are planning to turn up.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Within the ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"IDF","l":" some fear the operational plans are unrealistic. Israel’s armed forces, reliant on its reservists, are overextended, they say. Some officers also admit that Hamas will always be able to enlist thousands more youngsters to its ranks. But General Zamir has his orders. Either way, no major manoeuvres are expected for at least two weeks until reserve units are called up and the results of Mr Trump’s visit to the region are clear.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Mr Trump is the only person with any clout when it comes to the Israeli prime minister. Mr Netanyahu worries that the president will be urged by the Arab leaders to press Israel to return to the original ceasefire deal. Israel is unlikely to go ahead with its plans if the Americans withdraw their support. Gaza is becoming Israel’s forever war, and Gazans’ perpetual hell. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"■"}]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"i","x":"Sign up to the ","a":[["class","calibre18"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Middle East Dispatch","l":", a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop on a fascinating, complex and consequential part of the world.","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/newsletters/middle-east-dispatch"]]}]}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/05/05/israels-radical-new-course-in-gaza","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2025/05/05/israels-radical-new-course-in-gaza"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"feed_7/index_u15.html\", \"frag\": \"article_0\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-xQvX3JSyyUS4yAvbblzwf5","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_7\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}