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Reports: Netanyahu Wanted War in Gaza but Israeli Military Refused

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement after a meeting of his ruling Likud party in Ramat Gan on February 21, 2019. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement after a meeting of his ruling Likud party in Ramat Gan on February 21, 2019. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
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Reports: Netanyahu Wanted War in Gaza but Israeli Military Refused

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement after a meeting of his ruling Likud party in Ramat Gan on February 21, 2019. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement after a meeting of his ruling Likud party in Ramat Gan on February 21, 2019. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

In new information released in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, political and military sources confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was seriously working this month on forcing the military to go to war in the Gaza Strip, which would have postponed the general elections.

Hebrew newspapers wrote that the PM sent National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to meet with Central Elections Committee head Hana Melcer to prepare for the possibility of delaying the general election due to war.

Netanyahu said he needed to respond to a rocket attack that appeared to target one of his rallies.

Last week, two rockets were fired toward the coastal city of Ashdod, situated between the Palestinian enclave and Tel Aviv, and nearby Ashkelon, while the prime minister was speaking to voters at the time, and was therefore forced to leave the stage for a bomb shelter.

Netanyahu then discussed the issue with top military commanders at the Defense Ministry, where he raised the possibility of a “far-reaching” military operation.

The reports said that the PM was almost about to order the military to go to war in the Gaza Strip.

However, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit persuaded the PM to back off, citing a 2018 law that prohibits the prime minister and defense minister from declaring war or authorizing significant military operations without cabinet approval.

The KAN Israeli public broadcaster reported that Israel was closer to a wide-range military operation against the Gaza Strip more than anytime before.

It quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the rocket fired toward Ashdod does not require an Israeli response in the size suggested by Netanyahu.

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US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
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US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the US-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP)

The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the State Department said on Thursday, calling on other countries to also support the controversial group delivering aid in war-torn Gaza.

"This support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump's and Secretary Rubio's pursuit of peace in the region," State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Reuters was first to report the move earlier this week.

Washington has long backed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation diplomatically, but this is the first known US government financial contribution to the organization, which uses private for-profit US military and logistics firms to transport aid into the Palestinian enclave for distribution at so-called secure sites.

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations.

Earlier this month, GHF halted aid deliveries for a day as it pressed Israel to boost civilian safety near its distribution sites after dozens of Palestinians seeking aid were killed. It says there have been no incidents at its sites.

The foundation’s executive director, Johnnie Moore, an evangelical preacher who was a White House adviser in the first Trump administration, said in a post on X on Thursday that the group has delivered more than 46 million meals to Gazans since it began its operations in May.

Some US officials opposed giving any US funds to the foundation over concerns about violence near aid distribution sites, the GHF's inexperience and the involvement of the for-profit US logistics and private military firms, four sources told Reuters earlier this week.

The United States could approve additional monthly grants of $30 million for the GHF, two sources said, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

In approving the US funding for the GHF, the sources said the State Department exempted the foundation, which has not publicly disclosed its finances, from an audit usually required for groups receiving USAID grants for the first time.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.