Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu acknowledges pressure from allies in decision to resume Gaza aid

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that his decision to resume aid to Gaza came from pressure from allies.

In a video statement posted to social media, Netanyahu said that Israel’s allies had voiced concern about “images of hunger”

Israel’s “greatest friends in the world,” he said without mentioning specific nationalities, had said there is “one thing we cannot stand. We cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger. We cannot stand that. We will not be able to support you.”

“Therefore to achieve victory, we need to somehow solve the problem,” Netanyahu said.

The aid that would be let in would be “minimal,” he said without specifying precisely when it would resume.

Israel on Sunday said it would resume aid deliveries into the war-battered territory after a complete halt on imports since early March. Israel has maintained that the blockade on goods — including fuel, food and medicine — was meant to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

The weekslong halt on aid deepened and already dire humanitarian crisis and prompted warnings of famine from food experts.