CRACKS IN ISRAELI COALITION AS GANTZ HEADS TO LONDON

▶ Netanyahu tells Foreign Ministry not to assist former general during visit, sources say

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz is set to arrive in London today after a high-profile visit to Washington that drew the ire of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Gantz, a former chief of staff of Israel’s military, will meet British Foreign Secretary

David Cameron, sources have told The National.

The visit adds to speculation that Israel’s allies are becoming frustrated by Mr Netanyahu’s inflexibility on the Gaza war, especially the issue of humanitarian aid delivery.

Mr Gantz was in Washington on Monday. He held talks with several senior officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who urged Israel to let more aid into Gaza and stressed the need for a ceasefire. His meeting with Lord Cameron is likely to cover similar ground, the sources said. Other meetings are being planned, but remain unconfirmed.

It is understood that Mr Netanyahu’s office has instructed the Israeli Foreign Ministry not to assist Mr Gantz in any way during the trip.

Israeli political sources told The National that US President Joe Biden was “furious” that Mr

Netanyahu was “deliberately trying to harm” his administration’s plans for Gaza.

Washington and London have concluded that Mr Netanyahu is “not an ally or a partner” and are trying to find a “responsible adult” to work with after the war, the sources said.

This comes amid suggestions that Mr Gantz may quit the war cabinet along with his colleague Gadi Eisenkot if Mr Netanyahu fails to secure a ceasefire. Polls suggest that Mr Gantz is likely to replace Mr Netanyahu if his right-wing coalition collapses.

“Gantz is outpolling Netanyahu three-to-one on suitability to be prime minister,” a source in the Knesset told The National.

However, he added, there is no guarantee that the coalition will collapse if Mr Gantz and Mr Eisenkot leave the cabinet.

A plan to deliver aid to Gaza by sea was endorsed by the EU yesterday, but humanitarian groups warn that the only way to prevent widespread famine is for Israel to allow more lorries to bring food into the enclave by land.

Gaza is in need of vast quantities of aid, as five months of war have left many of its 2.3 million people at risk of starvation.

Israel controls the entry of relief supplies into the enclave through Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and its own Kerem Shalom border with the enclave.

It has also maintained a maritime blockade and kept the Erez/Beit Hanoun land entry point into northern Gaza closed to aid.

Israel’s staunchest ally, Washington, has grown increasingly vocal over the need for more aid to be allowed into Gaza in recent weeks as it pushes the Israelis to agree to a ceasefire.

“Our goal is clear – to establish a comprehensive aid strategy that includes air, land and sea routes to maximise the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said yesterday.

Planes from the US, France, Egypt and Jordan parachuted aid parcels into northern Gaza on the same day, dropping 36,800 meals, according to US Central Command, while the UAE also delivered relief supplies by air. Alongside carrying out air drops, US officials have also said they are considering plans to deliver aid by sea from the Mediterranean.

“We have been in touch with officials in Israel, in Cyprus, working with the UN,” a senior official from the US administration of President Joe Biden said on Saturday.

President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU Commission supports the implementation of a Cypriot plan for a maritime corridor to deliver aid by sea to Gaza.

The Cypriot plan, known as the Amalthea Initiative, was announced in November and envisages aid being collected and inspected in Cyprus before being sent to Gaza by ships checked by a committee that includes Israeli authorities.

However, experts say the most cost-effective way of getting aid into Gaza is by land.

“There is no alternative for both Egypt and Israel opening up their borders and letting aid and trade go in,” said Hadi Fathallah, an expert on regional food security who has advised international aid organisations in the Middle East.

“No maritime aid landings or air drops can compensate for destruction and relieve the famine.”

This needs to be done immediately as the famine risk is snowballing each day, added Mr Fathallah, now an analyst with the Namea consultancy.

According to the World Food Programme, 860 tonnes of aid would feed almost half a million Palestinians for seven days, meaning Gaza needs about 4,000 tonnes of food weekly. So far, the aid provided by air or sea has been far less than the required amount.

By air, volumes so far have been relatively small – with several Hercules or C-17 cargo planes dropping dozens of tonnes on each mission at significant cost.

No ship has delivered aid directly into Gaza, and a large fleet would be required to quickly bring in volumes.

In November, the British Royal Navy ship the Lyme Bay delivered about 200 tonnes of aid to the Gaza relief centre at Al Arish in Egypt during one journey. While the US has a fleet of amphibious ships that have previously delivered aid, they may not all be available due to other missions around the globe.

One of those vessels is the USS Bataan, currently in the Red Sea to intercept Houthi drones and missiles.

In the aftermath of the 2011 Japan earthquake, which devastated several cities and killed about 20,000 people, a US relief effort was able to deliver 235 tonnes of aid to the disaster zone. But it was unable to provide a sufficient response after the Turkey-Syria earthquake last year, when several of the necessary vessels were under maintenance in port.

France also has an amphibious assault ship near Gaza, which has a 70-bed hospital on board, to assist with the crisis.

It can also carry aid and delivered 300 tonnes of food and 70,000 litres of water to the Beirut Port area following the disastrous fertiliser explosion in 2020, but these amounts also fall far short of the estimated 4,000 tonnes of food required weekly for Gaza.

The plan would also need to work out how to deliver aid into Gaza given that the enclave’s major port has been damaged during the war.

Even if a ceasefire were agreed and ships were able to distribute aid by sea, the maritime mission would still face the issue of how to ensure aid reached Gazans equally.

Another potential issue is whether Israeli officials would facilitate the quick and efficient inspections of maritime aid needed to provide the quantities required.

NGOs say the process of delivering aid through the Rafah border crossing has been slowed by exhaustive inspections by Israeli authorities.

“As hard as it is to quantify how much aid is needed now, it is almost physically impossible to get it all in via Rafah, which isn’t designed for commercial use,” said Jessica Moussan, of the Red Cross.

“Sustained and unhindered humanitarian flow is imperative to be able to try to respond to the huge needs in Gaza.”

Israel’s staunchest ally, Washington, has grown increasingly vocal over the need for more aid to be allowed into Gaza