Extract from ABC News
Israeli forces will now hold the territories they seize, until Hamas is defeated or agrees to leave Gaza. (Reuters: Amir Cohen)
In short:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed a new offensive in Gaza will include an intensive military operation aimed at defeating Hamas.
Mr Netanyahu says the population in Gaza "will be moved for its own protection" but did not say how much of the strip would be seized.
What's next?
US President Donald Trump is set to visit the region next week.
Israel may seize the Gaza Strip and control aid in an expanded offensive against Hamas approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet on Monday.
An Israeli defence official said it would not be launched before US President Donald Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East next week.
The decision, coming after weeks of faltering efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement 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 government spokesman told journalists that reserve soldiers were being called up to expand operations in Gaza, not to occupy it.
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 that the operation would be "intensive" and 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 will hold on to the ground it has seized.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the new military operation in Gaza, but has not said how much of the enclave's territory would be seized. (Reuters: Abir Sultan)
Israeli troops have already taken over an area amounting to about a third of the Gaza Strip, displacing the population and building watchtowers and surveillance posts on cleared ground the military has described as security zones. However, the new plan will go further.
One Israeli government 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's 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 began.
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.
Israeli tanks operate near Israel-Gaza border. (Reuters: Amir Cohen)
Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that halted fighting for two months. It has since imposed a blockade of aid into the enclave, drawing warnings from the United Nations and international organisations that the 2.3 million population faces imminent famine.
The Israeli defence official said that 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 to the region next week.
"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".
"[There will be] 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.
Israel has cut off aid supply to Gaza since March. (ABC News)
Israeli blockade cuts aid supply
Israel, which is facing international pressure to end the campaign that has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million population, is yet to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza.
The Israeli official said that the newly approved plan would move Gaza's population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas's hands, though the blockade would not be lifted yet.
The United Nations on Sunday, local time, rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), said Israel had demanded that the UN and non-governmental organisations shut down their aid distribution system in Gaza.
"They want to manipulate and militarise all aid to civilians, forcing us to deliver supplies through hubs designed by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings," Mr Egeland posted on X on Monday.
"NRC will stand by our humanitarian principles and will, with all our peers, refuse to take part in this new scheme."
Community kitchens closing in Gaza as Israeli blockade cuts food supply (Eric Tlozek)
Seizing the entire enclave
The Israeli military has already begun issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders for its reserve forces, looking to expand the Gaza campaign, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement on Sunday.
The security meeting came hours after part of a missile that Iran-backed Houthis launched from Yemen fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport.
Israeli security forces in the area of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. (AP: Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza.
The retaliatory campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities and devastated the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip (Reuters: Hatem Khaled )
Up to 24 of the 59 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be alive.
Families fear that the fighting will endanger their loved ones, while critics say Israel risks being drawn into a long guerilla war with limited gains and no clear strategy.
Surveys have shown dwindling public support for the war among Israelis, many of whom would prefer to see a ceasefire deal.
On Monday, people in Jerusalem attended a protest against Mr Netanyahu and in support of the release of all hostages.
Hamas says it will release hostages only as part of a deal that will end the war and see Israeli forces withdraw from all of Gaza.
People protesting against the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. (Reuters: Ammar Awad)
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