JERUSALEM : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that a more comprehensive campaign against the Palestinian militant organization Hamas will be “intensive” following the approval of plans by his security council that might involve taking control of supplies and occupying the Gaza Strip.
The operation won’t be started before U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his trip to the Middle East next week, according to an Israeli defense official.
The decision highlights the danger that a war that puts pressure on Israel from around the world and dwindles domestic support could go on indefinitely following weeks of fruitless attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
According to officials with knowledge of the specifics, Israel’s national broadcaster Kan reported that the new approach was incremental and would take months, with forces initially concentrating on a single region of the ravaged enclave.
In a May 5 video message, Netanyahu stated that the operation would be “intensive” and that additional Palestinians will be relocated from Gaza “for their own safety.”
He declared that Israeli troops will not employ earlier strategies that relied on brief attacks by units outside of Gaza. According to him, “the intention is the opposite,” which is in line with other Israeli officials who have stated that Israel will cling onto the territory it has taken.
A third of Gaza has already been occupied by Israeli forces, who have forced the locals to leave and erected watchtowers and surveillance stations on what the IDF has referred to as security zones on cleared land. The current proposal would go even farther.
According to one Israeli source, the recently authorized attack will occupy the whole Gaza Strip, relocate its civilian population southward, and prevent Hamas from obtaining humanitarian aid.
The defense official stated that after the operation starts, the distribution of aid, which has been managed by U.N. and foreign humanitarian organizations, will be turned over to private businesses and distributed in the southern part of Rafah.
The Israeli military, which has not expressed much interest in occupying Gaza during the conflict, chose not to respond to the statements made by lawmakers and government representatives.
Following the breakdown of a truce supported by the United States that had halted hostilities for two months, Israel renewed its offensive in March. Following UN warnings that famine is impending for the 2.3 million people living there, it has since erected an aid blockade.
According to the defense source, Israel will retain the security zones it has taken over around the Gaza boundary because they are essential to safeguarding the Israeli populations surrounding the enclave.
However, he said that Trump’s arrival presented a “window of opportunity” for a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement.
“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 stated.
‘Complete ceasefire full withdrawal’
“Pressure and blackmail” was denied by Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Mardawi.
“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 stated.
After a campaign that has forced the majority of Gaza’s people to flee their homes and left them reliant on relief supplies that have been rapidly running out since the embargo, Israel has yet to provide a clear vision for the post-war Gaza.
Ministers have stated that international organizations should not be in charge of distributing aid since they are allegedly enabling Hamas to confiscate items meant for civilians.
Officials have instead examined proposals for distribution to be handled by private companies via what the UN has referred to as Israeli hubs.
The Norwegian Refugee Council’s secretary-general, Jan Egeland, stated on X on Monday that Israel was requesting that the United Nations and non-governmental organizations stop distributing help in Gaza.
‘We are finally going to conquer Gaza’
Hardliners in the Israeli government who have long advocated for Israel to completely occupy the Gaza Strip and force its citizens to relocate permanently, similar to Trump’s “Riviera” plans announced in February, welcomed the decision to expand the operation right away.
“We will finally take over Gaza. “The word ‘occupation’ no longer scares us,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in an online chat with a pro-settler conference.
There were irate scenes outside parliament with dozens of protestors fighting with police, but opinion polls indicate that the Israeli people is becoming more and more interested in a deal to return the 59 hostages who are still being held in Gaza.
Ruby Chen remarked, “All the families are tired,” after her son Itay was slain in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “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.”
The ability to conduct protracted military operations is also becoming increasingly limited as Israel faces threats from the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, who on Sunday fired a missile that struck near Ben Gurion Airport, an unstable Syria next door, and a volatile situation in the occupied West Bank.
According to Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, Israel’s chief of staff, the military has already started calling up tens of thousands of reservists.
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