Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israeli forces will “take control of all” of Gaza.

Axar.az informs that “The fighting is intense, and we are making progress. We're going to take control of the entire Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said in the video, which was posted to his Telegram channel.

At the same time, Netanyahu noted Israel would allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza to avoid famine. This comes after pressure from international allies, who warned that images of starving civilians would harm support for Israel.

“Our best friends in the world, senators who are passionate supporters of Israel, came to me and said they would provide all the assistance needed to achieve victory: weapons, backing for eliminating Hamas, and protection at the UN Security Council,” Netanyahu said.

“But there’s one thing they said they cannot support: images of mass starvation. ‘We cannot stand by you in that situation,’ they told me. So, in order to achieve victory, we must address that problem.”

“We must not let the population sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons,” Netanyahu said. “Even friends of Israel will not tolerate images of mass starvation.”

However, he made it clear that the aid would be minimal and strictly controlled. Netanyahu said Israel would make sure Hamas does not take the food. “We will prevent Hamas from looting the aid,” he said.