GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, May 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel said
Monday it will "take control" of the whole of Gaza, where rescuers reported
more than 50 killed in Israeli strikes as the military pressed a newly
intensified campaign.

After more than two months of a total blockade, the World Health Organization
issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip,
saying "two million people are starving".

Under mounting pressure to lift the blockade it imposed on Gaza on March 2,
Israel has announced it would let limited aid into the besieged territory and
said a first delivery of "trucks with baby food" would enter Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited "practical and diplomatic reasons"
for the resumption, while the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said it had been
approached by Israeli authorities about the resumption of aid.

In southern Gaza, the Israeli military issued an evacuation call to
Palestinians in and around Khan Yunis city ahead of what it described as an
"unprecedented attack".

The call came after the military announced it had begun "extensive ground
operations" in an expanded offensive against Hamas militants, whose October
7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Gaza's civil defence agency said 52 people had been killed in Israeli attacks
on Monday across the territory.

Netanyahu, in a video posted on Telegram, said that "the fighting is intense
and we are making progress."

"We will take control of all the territory of the strip," the Israeli leader
added.

The UN's OHCHR rights office decried actions that are "in defiance of
international law and tantamount to ethnic cleansing", citing the latest
attacks, displacement, the "methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods"
and denial of humanitarian aid.

Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel "will not give up. But in order to
succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped", justifying to his
hardline supporters the decision to resume aid.

"We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for
practical and diplomatic reasons," Netanyahu said, adding that even
supporters of Israel would not tolerate "images of mass starvation".

- Famine risk -

Israel said its blockade was aimed at forcing concessions from Hamas, while
UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and
medicines.

"Tonnes of food is blocked at the border, just minutes away", World Health
Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing with the deliberate withholding of
humanitarian aid."

The Israeli foreign ministry said that "trucks with baby food" would enter
Gaza on Monday, and that "in the coming days, Israel will facilitate the
entry of dozens of aid trucks".

Last week US President Donald Trump acknowledged that "a lot of people are
starving", adding "we're going to get that taken care of".

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir argued against
any resumption of aid, saying on X that "our hostages receive no humanitarian
aid".

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also of the far right, defended the
decision, stressing no supplies would be allowed to reach Hamas.

"This will allow civilians to eat and our friends in the world to keep giving
us diplomatic protection," he said.

Israel's military said on Monday it had struck "160 terror targets" in Gaza
over the past day.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said troops aim to
"encircle" some areas, "get the civilian population out of the way, and then
fight Hamas".

- 'Like apocalypse' -

Khan Yunis resident Mohammed Sarhan told AFP that Gaza's main southern city
"felt like the apocalypse" on Monday.

"There was gunfire coming from every apartment, fire belts, F-16 warplanes
and helicopters firing," he said.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee earlier called on Gazans in the
city and nearby areas to "evacuate immediately".

"From this moment, Khan Yunis will be considered a dangerous combat zone," he
said on social media.

AFPTV footage showed a helicopter over the city, while at Nasser Hospital, a
young boy in a tracksuit was being treated as two other boys, both barefoot
and bleeding, sat on the floor.

Further north in Deir el-Balah, Ayman Badwan mourned the loss of his brother
in an attack.

"We are exhausted and drained -- we can't take it anymore," he told AFP.

Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of
1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally
based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the
military says are dead.

Gaza's health ministry said Monday at least 3,340 people have been killed
since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to
53,486.