Israel-Gaza war, live | Israeli army declares “tactical halt” in Gaza to aid entry and Netanyahu says fighting will “continue as planned” | International

Netanyahu says fighting in Rafah will continue ‘as planned’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said this Sunday that fighting in Rafah, in southern Gaza, would continue “according to plan”, following the military’s announcement of a “tactical pause” in military activity that would last up to 11 hours a day on a section of the road that connects the enclave.

“When the prime minister heard reports on Sunday morning that humanitarian aid would be halted for 11 hours a day in the fighting, he told his military secretary that this was unacceptable,” a statement from his office said. “Once the situation was clarified, the prime minister was told there was no change in Israel Defense Forces policy and that the fighting in Rafah would continue as planned,” it added.

A few hours earlier, the army had announced the establishment of a “tactical pause” of military activity from tomorrow along the Salah al-Din highway from the Kerem Shalom crossing (in the south) to the Khan Younis European Hospital, in order to allow the entry and delivery of more humanitarian aid.

In a subsequent statement by the Citizens.

Following the announcement, the national security minister, extremist Itamar Ben Gvir, was against any “tactical ceasefire” aimed at allowing more aid, “especially at a time when our best soldiers are falling in battle,” he said on social networks.

For his part, the Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, calls on Hamas to turn to him and “help him maintain civilian control over the Strip.” (Efe)