Israel said on Saturday it will resume deliveries of tents and other shelter equipment to the Gaza Strip on 17 August, ending a five-month ban. The supplies, to be transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing by the United Nations and relief agencies after Israeli security inspections, are intended to house Palestinians whom the army plans to move from active combat zones to southern Gaza. The decision forms part of preparations for the next phase of Israel’s military campaign. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told commanders the army will "soon" launch an assault on Gaza City under Operation "Gideon’s Chariots," deploying land, air and naval forces until Hamas is, in his words, decisively defeated. Defence Minister Israel Katz said operational details of the offensive are still being finalised. U.N. humanitarian officials welcomed the renewed flow of shelter materials but warned that large-scale relocation could deepen the suffering of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents, 90 percent of whom are already displaced. The Gaza Health Ministry puts Palestinian fatalities since October 2023 at more than 61,000. The war was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and led to 251 hostages being taken; roughly 50 captives are thought to remain in Gaza, with about 20 believed alive. Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad denounced the relocation plan as a “new wave of genocide.” In Israel, families of hostages and civil-society groups have called for a nationwide protest on Sunday, urging a deal to secure the captives’ release and end the nearly two-year-old conflict.