ISRAELI prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a security cabinet meeting where he will seek approval for his plan on the full occupation of Gaza.
Israeli television network Channel 12 is reporting that Netanyahu will convene a limited meeting of security officials later today, with the country's defence minister, strategic affairs minister, the Israeli Defence Forces chief of staff and operations directorate set to attend.
The military's chief of staff is expected to present Netanyahu with several options for continuing the war in Gaza, with the PM preferring a wide-scale military incursion into the entire Gaza Strip to reoccupy it again.
Finalising a plan to present to a broader cabinet meeting later this week is reportedly the aim of today's meeting.
The meeting comes as Israel continue to deepen its operations in Gaza City.
This has triggered huge concerns among Palestinians, who are suffering not just from the repeated displacement and bombardment, but also from the ongoing deterioration of their humanitarian conditions.
Israel’s blockade and military offensive have made it nearly impossible to safely deliver aid, causing the country's plunge into famine.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed or wounded on Monday as desperate crowds headed toward food distribution points and airdropped parcels in the Gaza Strip.
Aid groups say Israel’s week-old measures to allow more aid in are far from sufficient.
Families of hostages in Gaza fear starvation affects them too, but blame Hamas.
Several hundred Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since May while heading toward food distribution sites and aid convoys, according to witnesses, local health officials and the United Nations human rights office.
The military says it has only fired warning shots and disputes the toll.
As international alarm has mounted, several countries have airdropped aid over Gaza.
The UN and aid groups call such drops costly and dangerous for residents, and say they deliver far less aid than trucks.
Many food parcels dropped by air have splashed into the Mediterranean Sea or landed in so-called red zones from which Israel’s military has ordered people to evacuate.
In either case, Palestinians risk their lives to get flour and other basic goods.
On Monday, Palestinians cheered as pallets of aid were parachuted over Zuweida in central Gaza. Associated Press footage showed a desperate scramble when the parcels hit the ground, with hundreds of people racing toward them.
Fistfights broke out and some men wielded batons.
“I wish they would deliver it through the (land) crossings,” Rabah Rabah said earlier as he waited for the airdrop.
“This is inhuman.”
At least one parcel fell on a tent where displaced people had been sheltering, injuring a man who was taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
