Israeli military focuses on next steps in Gaza campaign, reorganizes aid access

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is working to reorganize access routes to aid distribution centers in Gaza, the Israeli military said on June 30. The decision comes more than a month after the US-backed aid initiative led by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing assistance in areas controlled by the IDF.

On June 29, the GHF said, “Per today’s update, GHF has now distributed approximately 51,052,402 meals via roughly 899,952 boxes to date.” The IDF is focusing on the aid sites as it also continues pressing forward slowly in several sectors of Gaza. Israeli military operations and aid distribution are also happening amid reports of attempts to begin a new round of hostage-deal and ceasefire talks.

The GHF has four locations where it distributes aid. However, on most days, it only provides assistance from two or three of the four sites. Three of the sites are located in southern Gaza, and one is situated in the Netzarim Corridor near central Gaza. The group said on June 29 that “in addition to our standard food aid items, we distributed one-and-a-half truckloads of potatoes at the SDS3 distribution site today in an expanded pilot program as we continue to seek ways to provide even more aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Over the last month, there have been numerous reports claiming that civilians have been injured and killed trying to reach the aid sites. However, the GHF has defended its work and contested aspects of these reports. “Our GHF news monitoring continues to reveal inaccurate news coverage by international media outlets linking GHF sites to violent incidents that did not occur near our sites,” the organization said on June 29.

The IDF’s June 30 statement noted that it “enables the independent civilian activity” of the humanitarian organization. GHF facilities usually include the assistance of local Gazans who help distribute aid, while private security contractors secure the sites. The IDF’s area of control is, therefore, in areas further away from the distribution centers that lead to them. Large numbers of civilians often gather overnight and then seek to reach the sites early in the morning. “The IDF also operates near the centers in order to prevent the aid from falling into the hands of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the IDF noted on June 30.

After assessing the challenges over the past month related to large numbers of Gazans navigating their way to GHF sites, the IDF is changing things on the ground. The Israeli military is seeking to improve “the operational response in the area, minimizing friction with the population, and ensuring that the aid reaches its intended recipients.”

The IDF says it is organizing “access routes and aid distribution centers—including fencing and demarcating the centers, installing directional and warning signs, opening additional access routes, establishing barriers and checkpoints to regulate vehicle movement, and physically adapting the layout of the centers to allow external observation of the remaining aid packages at the end of each day.” One center run by the GHF near Tel al Sultan has been closed, and the Israeli military said it would “establish a new distribution center nearby.” The new location will “reduce friction” between Gazans and the IDF troops, the Israeli military hopes.

Separately, Israeli units continue to operate throughout Gaza. However, the tempo of operations has been relatively low as the IDF gears up for a possible new phase of operations. Nevertheless, on June 29, an IDF soldier was killed in northern Gaza.

On June 27, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir went to Gaza and spoke with IDF soldiers, stating that Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran could lead to success in the territory. “In the near future, we will reach the lines we defined for the current phase within the framework of operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots.’ From there, operational options will be developed and presented to the political echelon,” Zamir said.

Operation Gideon’s Chariots was approved in early May and began in the middle of that month. Over the following month and a half, the IDF has retaken areas in northern Gaza and Khan Younis that it previously cleared in 2024. The operation’s objective has been for the Israeli military to hold sections of Gaza rather than clear them and leave, which has previously allowed Hamas and allied groups to resurge in these areas.

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).