Israel may seize all Gaza in expanded operation

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 5 an expanded offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas would be “intensive” after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid.

However an Israeli defence official said the operation would not be launched before US President Donald Trump concludes his visit next week to the Middle East. The decision, after weeks of faltering efforts to agree a ceasefire with Hamas, underlines the threat that a war heaping international pressure on Israel amid dwindling public support at home could continue with no end in sight.

A report by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, citing officials with knowledge of the details, said the new plan was gradual and would take months, with forces focusing first on one area of the battered enclave. Mr Netanyahu said in a video message the operation would be “intensive” and would see more Palestinians in Gaza moved “for their own safety”.

He said Israeli troops would not follow previous tactics based on short raids by forces based outside Gaza. “The intention is the opposite,” he said, echoing comments from other Israeli officials who have said Israel would hold on to the ground it has seized.

Israeli troops have already taken over an area amounting to around a third of Gaza, displacing the population and building watchtowers and surveillance posts on cleared ground the military has described as security zones, but the new plan would go further.

One Israeli official said the newly approved offensive would seize the entire territory of the Gaza Strip, move its civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’ hands.

The defence official said aid distribution, which has been handled by international aid groups and UN organisations, would be transferred to private companies and handed out in the southern area of Rafah once the offensive begins.

The Israeli military, which throughout the war has shown little appetite for occupying Gaza, declined to comment on the remarks by government officials and politicians.

Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. It has since imposed an aid blockade, drawing warnings from the UN that the 2.3 million population faces imminent famine.

The defence official said Israel would hold on to security zones seized along the Gaza perimeter because they were vital for protecting Israeli communities around the enclave. But he said there was a “window of opportunity” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal during Mr Trump’s visit.

“If there is no hostage deal, Operation “Gideon Chariots” will begin with great intensity and will not stop until all its goals are achieved,” he said.

Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi rejected what he called “pressure and blackmail”.

“No deal except a comprehensive one, which includes a complete ceasefire, full withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and the release of all prisoners from both sides,” he said.

‘Occupation’

Israel has yet to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza after a campaign that has displaced most of Gaza’s population and left it depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.

Ministers have said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organisations which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for civilians.

Instead, officials have looked at plans for private contractors to handle distribution, through what the United Nations has described as Israeli hubs.

On May 5, Mr Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on X that Israel was demanding that the UN and non-governmental organisations shut down their aid distribution system in Gaza. The decision to expand the operation was immediately hailed by Israeli government hardliners who have long pressed for a full takeover of the Gaza Strip by Israel and a permanent displacement of the population, along the lines of the

“Riviera” plans outlined by Mr Trump

in February.

“We are finally going to conquer Gaza. We are no longer afraid of the word ‘occupation’,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a pro-settler conference in an online discussion. However, opinion polls show the Israeli public increasingly wants a deal to bring back the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza and there were angry scenes outside parliament with dozens of protesters scuffling with police.

“All the families are tired,” said Ms Ruby Chen, whose son Itay was killed in the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023. “All the families have been scared about this new manoeuvring because there is no guarantee that it will get us to where the families want.”

With Israel facing threats from the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, who on May 4 fired a missile that

hit close to Ben Gurion Airport

, an unstable Syria next door and a volatile situation in the occupied West Bank, the capacity for prolonged military operations also faces growing constraints. Israel’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on May 4 that the military has already begun

issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders

for reservists.

A government spokesman said reserve soldiers were being called up to expand operations in Gaza, not to occupy it.

Mr Zamir, who took office in March, has pushed back against calls by government hardliners who want to choke off aid entirely and has told ministers aid must be let in soon, according to Kan.

The war was triggered by the Hamas Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza.

Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians according to local health authorities, and left much of Gaza in ruins. REUTERS