International Pressure Weighs Heavy on Israel Over Gaza

On Oct. 7, 2023, Netanyahu promised to ‘forcefully avenge this dark day,’ but is international pressure going to force him to end his Gaza offensive?

An Israeli soldier, and his child, at the site of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led terrorists at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, on April 30, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg,AP

After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which Hamas terrorists crossed the border and massacred about 1,200 Israelis, taking 251 hostages, Israel had the unwavering support of the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and the European Union.

But much of that support has fallen away in recent months—and especially in the past week.

On May 19, Canada, the UK, and France put out a joint statement warning Israel that they would take “concrete actions” if it does not pause a military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory.

The same day, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand signed a joint statement with 20 other countries, including Germany—previously a stalwart ally—in which they told Israel to “allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately” and let the United Nations and humanitarian organizations “save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity.”

They also called for the return of a cease-fire and “working towards the implementation of a two-state solution.”

On May 20, the EU’s foreign affairs representative, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc is reviewing its association agreement with Israel, which includes free trade provisions, because of the “catastrophic” situation in the Gaza Strip.

Kallas: ‘Pressure Is Necessary’

Kallas told reporters that “pressure is necessary to change the situation.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have not openly criticized Israel, but neither, in recent days, has the White House or the State Department defended Israel’s position.

On May 16, Trump was asked whether he supported Israel’s latest offensive.

He told reporters: “I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we’re going to see. We have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving in Gaza, so we have to look at both sides.”

On May 21, two Israeli Embassy employees were shot dead as they left an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington.

The victims have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim.

The suspect has been identified as Elias Rodriguez, 30, of Chicago, but there is as yet no suggestion that he is affiliated with Hamas.

On May 21, the London-based Campaign Against Antisemitism sent a statement to The Epoch Times saying that campaigners for a “free Palestine” were “anything but peaceful, and now they have shed blood.”

Swords of Iron

Netanyahu responded to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by launching Operation Swords of Iron, which has cost the lives of 858 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel.

Hamas-controlled Gaza was pummelled by air strikes, artillery and tank fire, and armored drones.

A cease-fire was agreed upon in January—and several hostages were handed over in exchange for Palestinian prisoners—but it ended on March 1.

Israel says Hamas is still holding 58 hostages, although only 23 of them are believed to be alive.

The 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—which is only 25 miles long and in some places only four miles wide—are living in rubble among demolished and unsafe buildings. On April 25, the U.N. World Food Programme stated that it had run out of food stocks.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says 53,573 Palestinians have been killed, and 121,688 injured.

On Jan. 21, the outgoing IDF Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said almost 20,000 Hamas terrorists had been killed at that point.

Hamas has lost most of its leadership, including Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, but has not surrendered.

Workers unload cargo from a truck carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip at the offload area of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza on May 22, 2025. AP Photo/Leo Correa

Netanyahu wants to finish the job, and on May 16, the IDF posted on social media platform X, “Over the past 24 hours, the IDF has launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize controlled areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves for Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

But then came the international pressure to cease hostilities and allow in aid to prevent a famine in Gaza.

Arguments Over Aid Plan

On May 22, Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said 90 aid trucks carrying medicine, flour, and nutrition supplies had finally arrived in Gaza.

Netanyahu said more aid would be provided in the near future, after Israel had created a “sterile zone” where the Palestinian population—minus Hamas—could be moved, “for the purposes of its safety.”

The plan would involve a U.S-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, operating “secure distribution sites.”

Acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea told the Security Council earlier this month that Washington was working with Israel to enable the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to start work in Gaza by the end of the month.

But the U.N. opposes the Israeli plan, and on May 19, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “firmly rejects any forced displacement of the Palestinian population.”