Israel says it will continue blocking aid to Gaza and troops will remain 'indefinitely'

Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has said his country will continue blocking lifesaving supplies, such as food, medicine, fuel, and cooking oil, from entering the war-battered Gaza Strip despite stark warnings from another international medical charity.

"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement on Wednesday.

"No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid."

Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar echoed this position, saying that "the despicable murderers in Gaza deserve no humanitarian assistance from any civilian or military mechanism".

"Only hellfire should be poured on the makers of terrorism until the last hostage returns from Gaza," Zohar said on X.

For more than six weeks, Israel has refused to allow any aid to enter the enclave.

On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders became the latest charity to sound the alarm, saying Gaza had been "turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance".

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"We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population in Gaza," Amande Bazerolle, the charity's emergency co-ordinator in Gaza, said.

Several rights agencies, including Amnesty International, have described Israel’s blockade on all supplies entering Gaza as a crime against humanity and a violation of international humanitarian law.

Since the start of the war in October 2023, United Nations experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians.

In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Days before the ICC issued its arrest warrants, a UN special committee report accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, and policies and practices in Gaza that may amount to a "possibility of genocide".

Israeli troops to remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria

In Wednesday's statement, Katz also said that Israeli troops would remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, as the military tightened its grip on the enclave.

"Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized," Katz said.

According to Israeli authorities, the Israeli military has turned 30 percent of Gaza into a "security" buffer zone since resuming its offensive on 18 March after reneging on a ceasefire deal.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have defended the wanton destruction and cited military pressure as the only way to secure the release of the 59 captives still being held in Gaza.

"Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives," Netanyahu told Israeli troops in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

Hospital officials said at least 24 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Wednesday, with the majority of the deaths reported in Gaza City.

Among those killed were 10 members of the Hassouna family, including Fatima Hassouna, a young writer and photographer.

Hamas has maintained it will not agree to release the captives without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

On Monday, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Palestinian group was "open to all offers" which sought to "alleviate the suffering of our people", but accused Netanyahu of setting "impossible conditions" that aim to "sabotage" a potential ceasefire deal.