Shorouk Express
On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents
Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents
Get a weekly international news dispatch
Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet has approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and station troops there indefinitely – a move that would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and draw fierce international opposition.
The move was voted through in the early hours of Monday, two Israeli officials told the Associated Press. It would push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, where people are already suffering from a two-month blockade of aid.
In a video message, the Israeli prime minister confirmed that a new offensive in Gaza will be an intensive military operation.
“Population will be moved, for its own protection,” Mr Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli soldiers won’t go into Gaza, launch raids and then retreat. “The intention is the opposite of that.”
A defence official said the operation would not be launched until after US president Donald’s Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East, suggesting the plan could be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
Army chief Eyal Zamir said Israel’s military was “increasing the pressure” to secure the return of hostages held in Gaza as the prime minister vowed to continue the war.
“This week, we are sending tens of thousands of draft orders to our reserve personnel to intensify and expand our action in Gaza. We are increasing the pressure to return our people and defeat Hamas,” he said on Sunday.
He added that the Israeli military would “operate in additional areas and destroy all of [Hamas’s] infrastructure above and below ground”.
Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu has called up “tens of thousands” of reservists who will be deployed to Israel’s border with Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank, replacing regular soldiers who will lead the new offensive in Gaza, website ynetnews reported.
The security cabinet also reportedly approved a new plan for aid distribution in Gaza, although it was unclear when supplies would be allowed into the enclave.
There are three IDF divisions currently operating in Gaza, according to reports. The Netanyahu administration has repeatedly warned that if no new hostage deal is reached, the military would launch a major offensive aimed at eradicating Hamas.
Negotiations have failed to agree on a new ceasefire for the release of 59 remaining hostages, out of whom 24 are believed to be alive.
The families of Israeli captives said that in moving to take the whole of Gaza, the military was “sacrificing” their loved ones.
“An overwhelming majority of the nation is united around the understanding that an Israeli victory cannot be achieved without bringing the hostages home. Losing the hostages would mean an Israeli defeat,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“National security and social stability depend on the return of all the hostages – every last one.”
It added that the plan approved by the cabinet deserves to be called the “Smotrich-Netanyahu Plan” for “sacrificing the hostages”, in a reference to finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and the prime minister.
Local media reported that the military expansion in Gaza will be implemented following Mr Trump’s visit to the region next week. The US president will not travel to Israel itself, instead holding talks in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in mid-May.
Hamas has accused Israel of abandoning an earlier phased peace deal, which expired in early March after talks broke down. Israel resumed its airstrikes on Gaza around two weeks later, on 18 March.
The Israeli military has since intensified its bombing campaign and carved out wide buffer zones in Gaza, squeezing the 2.3 million population into an ever narrower zone in the centre of the enclave and along the coast and shutting off aid supplies.
So far, 192 hostages have been released through negotiations and Israeli military operations since November 2023. Most were abducted on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory war has reduced much of the territory to rubble and killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled Strip.
Over the weekend, the prime minister’s office announced that Mr Netanyahu was rescheduling a visit to Azerbaijan, citing recent developments in Gaza and Syria.
The office, which also cited “the intense diplomatic and security schedule”, did not announce a new date for the visit. Mr Netanyahu had been expected to meet with Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev this week.
