Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was outraged when he learned about the military's daily "pause" in operations along a road in southern Gaza to increase humanitarian relief efforts.
"When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official said Sunday, Reuters reported.
Hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also said whoever came up with the idea was a "fool" who should be fired, according to Reuters.
But Netanyahu was apparently placated when he was told Israeli troops would keep fighting in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the Israel Defense Forces launched a ground operation against Hamas last month.
The Israeli Defense Forces "makes it clear that there is no cessation of combat in the southern Gaza Strip, and the combat in Rafah continues," the military said in follow-up statement Sunday, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The IDF also said there was "no change in the introduction of goods into the Gaza Strip," according to the Jerusalem Post.
"The humanitarian corridor for goods will be open during the day in coordination with international organizations, for the transportation of humanitarian aid only," the statement added.
The daily "tactical pause" began Saturday and continued Sunday, the newspaper reported.
The IDF had said earlier that it would suspend military operations from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. along a 7 1/2 mile stretch of road from the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel to the European Hospital in Rafah.
The move is intended to ease the delivery of humanitarian aid to beleaguered Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where only 22 trucks carrying emergency supplies from UNICEF were able to enter from May 6 to May 28, the United Nations said last week.
