Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday declared his country “on the eve of a powerful entry into Gaza” after his guards approved a new plan for tens of thousands of additional soldiers to seize the territory of the charming Enclave and move the Palestinians south.
In a video posted to social media as Israeli military reserves began receiving notifications of their calls, Netanyahu said the country’s top officials recommended what they called “intensive” escalations of the 18-month war.
“It’s time to start a closing move,” Netanyahu told him, adding that the new campaign will help bring home hostages that are still held in Gaza. The Prime Minister said he believes, “We’re not finished. We’re at the finish line.”
After more than two months of escalation, Israel stopped the ceasefire and continued to block and bomb the Gaza Strip, talking about a ceasefire to release the ground of the remaining hostages to almost stop. Israel has banned humanitarian assistance to Gaza, in an attempt to push Hamas to surrender, and has prompted aid groups to condemn the rise in deprivation among Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s opponents quickly criticized the expanded military campaign, saying it would not fundamentally change the dynamics that the 18-month war brought about, saying it would put the lives of the remaining hostages at risk. Critics of the Prime Minister urged both domestically and internationally to end the conflict that began when Hamas killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israeli officials said the attacks will begin slowly in anticipation of ceasefire negotiations that are ongoing before President Trump travels to the region for meetings in several Arab capitals next week. However, officials said that if the deal is not reached soon, the expanded ground operation would begin in earnest.
Netanyahu vowed in the video that the decision to bolster the battle in Gaza does not mean that Israel has given up hopes of saving the remaining hostages.
“We won’t give up who we are,” he vowed.
Government spokesman David Mensah described the plan as a new effort to raise pressure on Hamas to release hostages and destroy all Hamas infrastructure, both on the ground and below. He said the campaign calls for “territorial retention” by Israeli soldiers for an indefinite period “to ensure Hamas doesn’t reclaim it.”
Mensah said the intention was not a permanent occupation of Gaza. Gaza said it is a scenario that almost certainly encourages international dissent, similar to the forced relocation of Palestinians from their homes in the north.
Israeli military spokesman Efi Deflin said in a statement on television that Israeli operations “contain a broad attack that includes moving a large portion of Gaza’s population, which is intended for protection in clean areas of Hamas.”
At the White House, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes did not directly comment on Israel’s announcement, but said Trump was “still committed to securing the immediate release of hostages and the end of the Hamas Rules in Gaza.” He added: “Hamas is solely responsible for this conflict and resuming hostilities.”
However, the amount of announcements that it was primarily designed as a public display of Netanyahu’s actions after the collapse of the ceasefire in March was not clear. The Israeli soldiers’ call was seen as a message to Netanyahu’s Hardline supporters, some of which were disappointed that the military had not completed its challenge to eradicate Hamas. Promising a more intense phase of war could be good domestic politics for him.
It is also not clear how additional fighters fundamentally change the dynamics seen over the 18 months when hundreds of thousands of soldiers are slamming Hamas fighters.
As part of the Israeli attack, Israel will “moves the Gazan population south for its own defense,” Mensah said. The plan reflected Israel’s actions early in the war, when Israel ordered a massive evacuation of North Gaza before a ground invasion in late 2023.
An Israeli official who discussed the operational plan on condition of anonymity warned that the understanding that Israeli forces will move to gain more territory than they already hold, is not clear whether Israel has plans to occupy all of Gaza at this point.
The Cabinet has also approved a new Israeli-supporting mechanism to enable the distribution of humanitarian assistance, he said. Israel has been criticized more than two months ago for its decision to block all humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel. Israel argues that aid blockade is legal and that Gaza still has sufficient available provisions.
The two reserves who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment on news media said they had received call-up orders since June.
Israeli Energy Minister and member of the Security Cabinet, Eli Cohen, said preventives were called to implement a plan to prevent Hamas from launching an attack on Israel again.
“The destruction of terrorist organization Hamas is not only in Israel’s interests, but also in the interests of the entire free world,” he said, adding that “the Cabinet has unanimously expanded its operations in Gaza and decided to defeat Hamas.”
The question is whether such a return to a fight is a roadmap to the end of hostilities, or merely a reinforcement of a fatal conflict with the aggravated consequences of Palestinian and Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.
Tamil Heyman, who served as Israeli military chief intelligence for four years, said his attempts to put pressure on Hamas with overwhelming force was “exhausted” more than a year after the war.
“It’s extremely difficult to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist organization through military force alone,” said Heyman, executive director of the National Security Institute, a think tank in Tel Aviv. He said it would be better for Israel to end the war with Hamas. Hamas has been significantly weakened and could be suppressed after the battle is over.
The Israeli military has not provided details on how to deploy the reserves. But two Israeli officials who requested anonymity to comment on the military programme say several brigades will be involved in some parts of Gaza, seeking so-called operational advantages.
The Trump administration called for a new ceasefire, but Hamas called for the end of the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israeli officials say they believe it was the power and strength of the military campaign in Gaza last year that pushed Hamas to release some of its hostages and pressured them to accept a ceasefire in January.
Hours after the attack in October 2023, Netanyahu ordered the mobilization of 360,000 reserves, adding them to the country’s permanent army of around 170,000 soldiers.
In the battles since then, more than 50,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has not distinguished civilians from military deaths. Approximately 130 hostages have been released, and Israeli forces have recovered at least 40 bodies. According to the Israeli government, around 24 hostages are thought to be still alive.
Awad Abid, a 38-year-old resident of Jabaraya in northern Gaza, said the Israeli announcement has brought even more despair among the Palestinian residents of the enclave. The humanitarian lockdown for months has caused “hunger to enter every home,” he said.
“There’s no better life here for anyone in Gaza,” Abyd said, adding that Israeli hostages should be released soon to end the conflict.
When Israel and Hamas agreed to the January ceasefire agreement, Netanyahu said they should go “the painful blow that our heroic fighter has landed in Hamas.”
“This is exactly how the conditions were created for the turning point of that position and the release of our hostages,” he said in a national speech.
However, other voices like Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid have expressed serious questions about the strategy. “I fear that the strength of the battle will determine the fate of the hostages,” Rapid told Israel Army Radio. “What is the goal? Why do they call the reserves? Extend normal services and extend everything without defining everything to goals. That’s not how you win the war.”
In a statement Monday, an organization representing hostage families urged the government not to spread the war.
“The expansion of military operations puts all hostages at a serious risk,” the family said. “We beg decision makers. We prioritize hostages. Secure deals. We will take them home before it’s too late.”
Nathan Audenheimer, Johatan Rice and Gabby Sobelman contributed the report.
