Preparations for a Move on Gaza City Have Started, Israel’s Military Says
Troops have reached the city’s outskirts, an Israeli official said, adding that more reservists are being asked to report for duty to cover for other soldiers who will be involved in going into Gaza City.
By Lara Jakes
Lara Jakes frequently writes about the war in Gaza.
Israel’s military is moving forward with plans to take over Gaza City, officials said Wednesday, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighs a Hamas cease-fire proposal that would anger hard-liners in his government but, potentially, ensure the safe release of some hostages.
Troops had reached the city’s outskirts and tents were being moved into southern Gaza for people who would be displaced from their homes once the operation begins, an Israeli military official who requested anonymity in line with military protocol, said at a briefing for journalists.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said separately that he had approved mobilizing thousands more reservists and extending orders for others to supply troops for the fighting in Gaza. “I instruct you to use all tools and all power to strike the enemy until it is subdued, and to protect I.D.F. soldiers,” Mr. Katz told Israeli troops, referring to the Israel Defense Forces, according to a statement from his ministry.
The looming assault aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping and planning future attacks, the Israeli military official said at the briefing. That comes after nearly two years of Israel’s war against Hamas, which has largely leveled the Gaza Strip and brought parts of it to the brink of famine.
The Israeli official described the military operation as “gradual, precise and targeted,” saying it would extend into areas of Gaza City where Israeli soldiers have not previously been during the war, which began when Hamas led attacks into southern Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others. Even after nearly two years of war, the city and its surrounding neighborhoods remain a stronghold for Hamas fighters and the militants’ government, the official said.
But the assault would be barred under a proposed 60-day cease-fire plan put forward earlier this week and approved by Hamas.
Mr. Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from his hard-right political allies to reject the proposal, which has been called a “partial deal” because it would neither lead to the immediate release all Israeli hostages nor end the war.
But its terms are similar to those Israel has previously accepted, according to officials briefed on its contents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
An earlier proposal, which President Trump said in July that Israel had endorsed, called for the release of 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others over a 60-day period in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Up to 20 hostages are still believed to be living, according to the Israeli authorities. The bodies of 30 others, they say, are also being held in Gaza.
Talks to reach that deal ultimately collapsed, and Mr. Netanyahu has not publicly shared his position on the new cease-fire proposal, which was announced this week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
On Wednesday, a hard-line minister in Mr. Netanyahu’s government, Orit Strock, warned the prime minister in an Israeli radio interview about accepting a deal that does not defeat Hamas and puts “the value of returning the hostages above the national interest.”
“This will push the country into a horrible abyss,” Ms. Strock, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party, told Army Radio. “So it is very possible that we will say we will not be prepared to lend our hand to the government.”
Many Israelis fear that Hamas will kill the remaining Israeli hostages being held in Gaza if the military operation goes forward. The families of the hostages on Wednesday demanded a meeting with Mr. Katz, the defense minister, and the military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
“Approving plans to occupy Gaza, while there is a deal on the table for Netanyahu’s approval, is the essence of torpedoing it, and a stab to the heart of families and the public in Israel,” a group representing the hostages’ relatives, said in a statement.
“Everyone knows that the conditions are ripe for a deal, and it is in your hands,” the statement said, appealing to Mr. Netanyahu.
The Israeli official who briefed journalists on Wednesday said that, under the military’s plans, an additional 50,000 reservists would be told to report for duty in September to backfill other soldiers, including those who would be going into Gaza City. That would bring the total number of reservists called up to 120,000. Reservists who are already on duty could see their missions extended, the official added.
In a later statement, the Israeli military corrected the number to say 60,000 new reservists would be called to duty and 20,000 reservists would have their orders extended.
Two other Israeli military officials said the operation would unfold in parts. First troops would encircle Gaza City while allowing the population to move south, passing through checkpoints to prevent Palestinian militants from escaping. Then they would move in with force. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details.
Ahmed Saleh, 45, said Israeli troops were sending remote-controlled vehicles packed with explosives to blow up buildings, block by block, in the Zeitoun neighborhood near where he lives in Gaza City.
“I hear the big explosions all the time, they are getting closer,” said Mr. Saleh, adding that he would try to stay in his home for as long as possible. If he is forced to leave, Mr. Saleh said he would head west to a beachfront, where he had previously lived in a tent while waiting for the violence to ebb.
Although worried that Israeli forces will close escape routes to the west, Mr. Saleh said he will not move to southern Gaza, as Israel is demanding of displaced residents.
“There are no services there at all, but most importantly, there is no room left for newcomers in the south,” he said. “I know no one there and have no more money to pay for that trip. I have lost all my savings during this war; most of it has been paid toward food.”
The Israeli military official said the new operation will also expand humanitarian aid in southern Gaza where displaced people are being told to move. That will include opening new aid distribution sites and ensuring there is no fighting near them, and opening new routes for trucks to safely bring in more supplies.
John Acree, executive director of the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said that his operation was “ready to expand” and that discussions with the Israeli government were ongoing to open additional aid distribution sites.
“We need more aid, we need to open more sites,” Mr. Acree told journalists on Wednesday. “So we push for that.”
He also said he expected to continue distributing aid regardless of the political discussions. “We are absolutely pro cease-fire — we welcome any type of a cease-fire,” Mr. Acree said.
Hundreds of people have died trying to get food from the American-run organization’s distribution sites since they opened in May, including in Israeli fire and in a desperate stampede last month, according to the United Nations. At the same time, the organization said it has delivered 130 million meals in Gaza in the last three months.
Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, said earlier this month that he expected the organization to soon quadruple its aid distribution sites, from four to 16.
Aaron Boxerman , Gabby Sobelman, Natan Odenheimer and Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting.
Lara Jakes, a Times reporter based in Rome, reports on conflict and diplomacy, with a focus on weapons and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. She has been a journalist for more than 30 years."
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