Local reports indicated that an undercover Israeli special forces team, dressed as civilian refugees, had early on Monday infiltrated Khan Younis and targeted a leading militant. The Israel Defense Forces said they were aware of the reports but added that there was “no change in the situational assessment”.

The expanded military operations came as Israel began re-allowing limited quantities of aid into Gaza, which the Israeli premier said was necessary to maintain international legitimacy.

Eden Bar Tal, director-general of Israel’s foreign ministry, said Israel facilitated the entry of trucks with baby food into Gaza on Monday, and that “dozens” of aid trucks would go in “in the coming days”.

Netanyahu on Sunday night approved the plan to start easing the two-month siege, with an initial inflow of aid to follow the UN-led model that has been in place since the start of the war in October 2023.

He acknowledged for the first time that Gazans were on the brink of starvation.

“We’re quickly getting close to the red line [of starvation], to a situation where we can lose control and then everything crumbles,” said Netanyahu on Monday, adding that international pressure — including from the US — had forced the country to ease its blockade.

The prime minister said he was told by Israel’s “friends” across the world and in the US Congress that “we will not accept pictures of mass starvation . . . We won’t be able to support you” in the war effort.

The Trump administration, which has staunchly supported Israel’s war aims, has in recent days warned of the grim humanitarian conditions inside Gaza, with the US president’s envoy Steve Witkoff telling ABC on Sunday that the US would not let a crisis “occur on President Trump’s watch”.

The premier declined to hold a vote in his security cabinet on the decision to resume aid, fearing that the motion would not be carried in a sign of the contentious domestic politics surrounding aid provision to Gaza.

Israeli officials have consistently claimed that humanitarian supplies are being siphoned by Hamas.

Bezalel Smotrich, the ultranationalist finance minister who had previously threatened to resign from the government if it re-allowed aid, said on Monday that he backed the premier but again insisted “no aid will go into Hamas, period”.

Netanyahu said on Monday that a controversial Trump-backed scheme — in which a little-known Swiss-incorporated group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, would distribute aid under the supervision of the Israeli military and private security contractors — would “take time” to build.

“A minimal, basic bridge” was required “so that there will not be starvation in Gaza”, he said.

The expanded offensive came as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha attempt to broker a renewed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Netanyahu has previously said he will only “negotiate under fire” with the militant group, in a bid to secure the release of 58 remaining hostages taken from Israel by Hamas during its October 7 2023 attack, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

But the Israeli leader has been clear that he will not end the war until “total victory” is achieved over Hamas, including the disarmament of the group and the exile of its leadership.

Netanyahu late on Monday criticised a joint statement from the UK, France and Canada on saying they would take “concrete actions” against Israel if it did not end its renewed offensive and lift restrictions on aid deliveries.

“Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved,” he said in a post on social media.

Additional reporting by James Shotter and Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper