OpEds
However it distributes aid, or doesn’t, Israel still has no plan for its war in Gaza
JTA -Two months ago, on 27 May, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began distributing food in the Gaza Strip. From the outset, the group was mired in controversy. Israel initially claimed it had no connection to the organisation, calling it an independent American foundation. Within days though, the chairperson resigned, and a major United States (US) consulting group cancelled its contract with the GHF amid questions over its funding and management.
Despite the turbulence, that day was celebrated by some in Israel as a breakthrough. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hailed the GHF’s arrival as a “turning point in the war”. Finally, he declared, there was an entity that could deliver to the Palestinian people who needed it without connection to the United Nations (UN) and without simply funnelling supplies to Hamas. The GHF, Smotrich insisted, would bypass the terror group and reach ordinary Gazans in need.
“G-d willing, [this will] lead to victory and the destruction of Hamas,” Smotrich said at the time. “Better late than never.”
It’s worth recalling those words after Sunday, 27 July, when Israel began parachuting aid into Gaza and allowing other nations to do the same while implementing daily pauses in fighting as claims of mass starvation sparked unprecedented global outrage.
While the UN’s accusations should be viewed sceptically, given its institutional bias against Israel, Netanyahu couldn’t ignore a joint statement by 28 countries – including the United Kingdom; Canada; France; Italy; and Japan – demanding an immediate end to the war and condemning what they called “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food”.
Under pressure and recognising that ignoring the pleas would come at a price, Netanyahu ordered a dramatic policy shift: Israel would significantly increase aid deliveries; parachute food into Gaza; and implement daily 10-hour pauses in populated areas, establishing new humanitarian corridors.
The move raises stark questions about Israel’s conduct and assumptions throughout the war. Did the government genuinely believe, as it claimed in March when the last ceasefire collapsed, that it could halt nearly all aid to Gaza without paying a crushing diplomatic price? When the GHF began operations in May, did Israel truly believe that this private initiative would change the war’s trajectory and bring Hamas to its knees?
Reality tells a different story. Hamas hasn’t buckled under pressure since the GHF began distributing aid. If anything, it has hardened its demands. Last week, both the US and Israel pulled out of ceasefire talks in Doha, with US President Donald Trump bluntly declaring that Hamas didn’t want a deal. Can Israel alone be blamed for the deadlock? No. When Hamas sees France formally recognising a Palestinian state and dozens of countries issuing unprecedented condemnations of Israel, it has little incentive to compromise or free the hostages.
And while Israel is right to push back against the exaggerated language of “genocide” and “mass starvation”, it cannot deny that Gaza faces a genuine humanitarian crisis. Pretending otherwise, as some in Israel’s leadership have done, doesn’t make the problem disappear. Israel may insist that there is no famine, and technically be correct, but the optics are undeniable. After 22 months of war, Israel is airdropping aid and halting military operations, an act that for much of the world reads as an admission that the crisis is very real.
The deeper problem, however, isn’t the aid itself. It’s the pattern the aid represents: reactive decisions by Jerusalem and not strategic thinking. For more than a year, this war has been plagued by the same flaw: no clear plan; no defined objectives; and no coherent endgame. Only tactical moves, almost always made under either diplomatic or political pressure.
The GHF was supposed to isolate Hamas; and the renewed military operation was supposed to force Hamas into a hostage deal. Neither outcome has materialised. Now, defence officials argue that by addressing the starvation narrative, Israel will corner Hamas and pressure it to negotiate. Will that theory hold? Maybe. But experience suggests otherwise.
What’s undeniable is this: nearly two years after 7 October, Israel isn’t too far from where it started – improvising; dropping aid from the sky; pausing operations; and grasping for a path forward. The government still cannot articulate how this war ends. Until it does, every shift – from the GHF’s launch to the latest aid parachutes – will be just another tactical adjustment in a war drifting without a strategy.
- The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
David Hersch
July 29, 2025 at 6:39 pm
“This war has been plagued by the same flaw: no clear plan; no defined objectives; and no coherent endgame. Only tactical moves, almost always made under either diplomatic or political pressure” sums up what this article claims.
The problem is, as is often the case, the author ignores the reality and geopolitics Israel has had to face, especially under Biden/Obama. Whilst President Trump has been exceptional and has been equated with the Persian Emperor, Cyrus, he nevertheless is first and foremost the President of America and not Israel.
What is not mentioned is the hostage problem. On the one hand, Israel HAS SUCCEEDED in get the vast majority of hostages back. It is the remaining twenty live hostages and Hamas playing Israel and the USA that have left the current situation. I believe Israel has made a decision at last to go in and finally destroy Hamas. Any other country would have gone in hard and fast irrespective of hostages and decimated Gaza and Hamas immediately. It is Israel valuing life that is its Achilles Heal and I believe it now understands this cannot continue.
Alleging Israel has no plan for after the war is absolute nonsense and undermines what Israel is doing and has to do playing in an anti-Semitic world where Europe cannot boast a decent leader. The only exception is Moroni, the Italian Prime Minister. The rest of Europe’s leaders and weaklings and wimps.Britain and France’s governments pander to Islamic voters to gain votes whilst the Islamics are using them to take over their countries.
Stop making unfair politically driven statements that weaken Israel. Israel has been exceptional in how it faced seven fronts and won and it will sort out Gaza and Hamas will be no more.
Ryan
July 30, 2025 at 9:47 am
David, I emplore you to listen Israeli media, Israelie spokespeople and the people of Irsael. They disagree with a lot of what you have said.
1. Since Trump has come in and taken the leash of Bibi, global opinion on Israel has plummeted. Floating the Trump plan for Gaza, implementing more aid blockades and announcing 22 new settlements in the West Bank has somehow turned us into even more of a periah state.
2. Hostages have been returned through cease fire, not fighting. Lets not forget, Bibi let Israeli hostages rot in Gaza from May until January. The same cease fire deal offered in may of 2024 sat on his desk so he could wait to see if he would be working with Trump or Harris. Lets also not forget (according to Times of Israel & The Jerusalem Post) that Bibi is the one who ended the Trump cease fire as he was under pressure form Smodric and his trial was about to start again. Israelies do not believe enough is being done to prioritise the hostages.
3. Please go read on division 252. The very soldiers serving in this division say their commander Vach is a mad man who encourages the killing of any Palistians that enter arbitrary kill zones he makes up. Despite several wistle blowers coming forward, and Andrew Fox who is a huge supporter of Israel saying the division is a shambles, not only was Vach not investigated, was was places in charge of the GHF aid stations. This combined with the massive levels of starvation, that now even your precious Trump admits to, shows this idea that Israel is being held back due to our love of life just does not hold any water.
4. Israel openly admits they do not have a plan. Every single time a spokes person goes on air they say all options are on the table, which means they have not chosen an option. Why did Galant resign? Because Bibi didn’t have a plan for the day after. David Mensa in an interview last week admitted there is no plan for the day after. Bibi said not that long ago the war will end when Israel can enact the trump plan. So we went from the war will end when the hostages get returned, to the war will end when the hotsages are returned and Hamas is destroyed to now Bibi saying the war will end when the hostages are returned, Hamas is defeated and the Trump plan has been followed. A plan for the day after? We don’t even seem to know what the plan for the day before is!?!
5. Your world view requires a massive coordinated anti-semitic conspiracy. 28 countries have come out urging Israel to end this war. Not 28 total, 28 developed nations joining the rest of the world that has been calling for an end to this war. Over 100 aid agencies, almost every single humans rights group, global institutions, all condmeing our actions. Lets apply occams razor, either the world is seeing what is going on and finds it barbaric, or behind the scenes a group of anti-semites that have there hands in every government, every global institution, every aid agency, every humans rights group are coordinate narritives against Israel.
We have to wake up people, please go watch any interview done in any foreign media and see how the tide is not turning, it has turned. Our slogans of Human sheilds and its Hamas’s fault are falling flat.
Sharon
July 30, 2025 at 9:33 pm
What’s your plan ?
Sharon
July 30, 2025 at 9:36 pm
What’s your plan that gets the hostages back and gets rid of Hamas?
They are not giving up the hostages
It’s their only card
So tell me what your plan says
Ryan
July 31, 2025 at 9:32 am
Firstly, if your plan is failing so spectacularly, I do not think you have room to ask for alternatives.
The war aims are: Get the hostages back & Defeat Hamas.
Hostages have overwhelmingly been returned through cease fire and not fighting and Hamas are recruiting more fighters then they are currently losing. Add to this the massive anti-Israel sentiment globally at the moment and this war is an utter failier.
I am happy to offer some alternatives Israel could have followed in order to avoid this catastrophe.
1. Do not block aid going into Gaza.
2. Let the Aid agencies that actually know what they are doing run aid distribution, especially seeing as even Israeli military officials have come out and said there is no evidence Hamas steals most of the aid.
3. Knowing that Hamas has a strategy of wanting the highest civilian casulty rate possible, lower your proportionality calculations.
4. Israel should have set up aid sites and camps with the required necessities before they moved the population, and the IDF could have had positive interactions with the civilian population in the hopes of driving a wedge between Hamas and Palistinians.
5. Set up serious channels to prosecute soldiers found to be violating the rules of war, this should have included any members of the Knesset that make claims against the civillain population or who call for the enthic cleansing of Gaza (although Bibi would have been prosecuted under these rules)
Sharon I genuinely would appreciate it now if you meaningfully engaged with any of the points I made in my original post instead of obfuscating