Prime Minister Netanyahu met United Nations World Food Programme executive director Cindy McCain in Jerusalem for a “constructive meeting concerning the ongoing and continued provision of humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians,” they announced in a joint statement Thursday, as she warned Gaza was “at breaking point.”
The meeting came days after the global hunger monitor Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared for the first time that famine has struck the densely populated northern Gaza Strip. After visiting Gaza earlier this week, McCain also met Wednesday with IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Foreign Ministry director-general Eden Bar Tal and COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, as well as with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Ramallah on Thursday.
Netanyahu and McCain discussed “the importance of protecting civilians from hunger and malnutrition and ensuring that their basic essential needs are met” and noted the increase in aid entering Gaza over the past month.
According to their statement, Netanyahu and McCain agreed to “redouble efforts to expedite and sustain the entry of humanitarian goods into Gaza given the dire needs on the ground.”
They also agreed that, wherever possible, aid must reach “the most vulnerable people where they are.” The language of the joint statement seemed to indicate an impending reform to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation model, which sees Palestinians walk several kilometers in dangerous conditions to receive aid.
The IDF said this week it was opening two new GHF sites in southern Gaza and closing one. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee said earlier this month that plans were in place for GHF to expand operations to 16 sites, with overcrowding a constant issue at existing centers.
Netanyahu and McCain also agreed “that humanitarian aid is provided exclusively to civilians.” Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid and using it to fund its operations against Israeli forces.
Speaking to the Associated Press, McCain said that she “personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza. It is real and it is happening now.”
Netanyahu, she said, was “obviously very concerned that people aren’t getting enough food,” and that “we agreed that we must immediately redouble our efforts to get more humanitarian aid in. Access and security for our convoys is critical.”
She also said that it was “very evident” during her visit to Gaza that there is not enough food in the enclave.
“I got to meet a family who had come from the north, there were 11 of them, and they’d come from the north and they literally had not had enough food at all and they still don’t have enough food,” she said.
McCain said her program is getting more food in to Gaza, but said a surge in food supplies was needed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said hunger in Gaza is “a present-day catastrophe” and the planned start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza City presents “a new and dangerous phase.”
He said it will have “devastating consequences” and force hundreds of thousands of traumatized and exhausted civilians to flee again.
“Gaza is piled with rubble, piled with bodies, and piled with examples of what may be serious violations of international law,” he said, while decrying the “endless catalog of horrors” in the Strip since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror onslaught that started the ongoing war.
The UN chief said Israel is the occupying power and therefore has obligations to protect civilians, facilitate far greater humanitarian access and meet their essential needs.
The systematic dismantling of systems that provide food water and healthcare, Guterres stated, “are the result of deliberate decisions that defy basic humanity.”
Mediators Egypt and Qatar were still waiting for Israel’s response to a truce offer in Gaza, which has been accepted by Hamas, the Qatari foreign minister said Thursday.
The proposal would see 10 living hostages exchanged for Palestinian security prisoners during a 60-day truce that could be extended to a second phase if the sides agreed to terms on a permanent ceasefire. In exchange for each living hostage, the deal would see Israel release 60 Palestinian security prisoners serving sentences of at least 15 years, including a total of 140 prisoners serving life sentences. Israel would also hand over 1,000 Gazans detained without charge by the IDF since October 7. In addition, for each slain hostage’s body, 10 bodies of dead Palestinian prisoners would be returned, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Israel has yet to formally discuss the proposal, which is nearly identical to one that it agreed to earlier this year, with Netanyahu shifting toward favoring a “comprehensive framework” for an end to the war and the release of all hostages, instead of the phased deal that has been under discussion for months.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on the future of Gaza, during which he called in Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to set out Israel’s needs for the “day after” Hamas, Channel 12 news reported Thursday.
Dermer, a top confidante of Netanyahu, told Trump that Israel does not want to permanently occupy Gaza or deport its residents, according to the report. What Israel does want, Dermer said, is to destroy Hamas before handing Gaza over to a governing body that won’t threaten the Jewish state.
Citing an unnamed source, the networked reported that Dermer said that if Israel’s conditions were met, it was open to compromise on all other issues in Gaza.
The source said that the aim of the White House “day after” effort is for the US to lead the building of a governance mechanism for Gaza that enjoys international support and allows Israel to withdraw safely, without Gaza being taken offer by a terrorist group.
According to the report, the White House meeting did not end with any definitive decision or conclusion, but it did highlight the pressing question of who can govern Gaza after Hamas.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.