• Truce talks pointless as Tel Aviv wages ‘hunger war’: Hamas
• UK warns any bid to annex Gaza land ‘unacceptable’

GAZA CITY/OFRA: Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday a victory for Israel in Gaza means that the Palestinian territory will be “entirely destroyed” before its inhabitants depart for other countries.

“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to... the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,” the far-right firebrand said at a conference on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

His comments came a day after United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said that “Gaza is, and must remain, an integral part of a future Palestinian state.” For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement in the war that led to Israel’s creation in 1948.

Separately, UK’s Middle East minister said on Tuesday any Israeli attempt to annex land in Gaza would be “unacceptable as Israel’s army prepared to broaden its assault in the Palestinian territory”. “We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s operations. Any attempt to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable,” minister Hamish Falconer said.

Giving reference to the ceasefire development, Hamas on Tuesday dismissed as pointless ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza, where famine looms, as the Israeli military prepared for a broader assault. The comments from Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim followed Israel’s approval of a military plan involving the long-term “conquest of the Gaza Strip”, according to an Israeli official.

Nearly all of the Palestinian territory’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the conflict. A two-month Israeli blockade since early March has worsened the humanitarian crisis. “There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” senior Hamas official Naim said.

The former Gaza health minister said the world must pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to end the “crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings”. Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, said that “our efforts remain ongoing” despite major obstacle to a ceasefire.

Israel’s military has said the expanded operations approved by the security cabinet on Sunday would include displacing “most” of Gaza’s population. Before that phase begins, a senior Israeli security source has said that the timing of troop deployments allowed a “window of opportunity” for a possible priosner deal coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week.

Israel’s military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce that saw a surge in aid into the conflict-stricken territory and the release of Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel.

Israeli attack

Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Tuesday that six Palestinians including a young girl were killed in Israeli dawn attacks. Moaz Hamdan, who lost family members in a strike in Nuseirat in central Gaza, said he was awoken by “a very large explosion”.

The whole area was “covered in dust and destruction”, he said. “We were unable to rescue the wounded.”

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 2,507 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll from the conflict to 52,615.

UN accuses Israel

The UN on Tuesday accused Israel of trying to “weaponise” the flow of aid into Gaza, leaving the population desperate for food and water while delivering them “bombs” instead. The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA decried the worsening situation in the conflict-stricken Palestinian territory.

“The bottom line is that there’s no aid to distribute anymore because the aid operation has been strangled... There’s no more to give,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.

In Gaza, “there’s a desperate need for food getting in; they’re getting bombs”, he said.

“They need water; they’re getting bombs. They need health care; they’re getting bombs.” He voiced outrage at Israel’s recent verbal update to representatives of a grouping of around 15 UN agencies and 200 NGOs indicating plans to “shut down the existing aid distribution system” that the organisations run in Gaza.

“The Israelis have asked them to instead deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military,” Laerke said.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2025