On Monday of this week, officials of the Benjamin Netanyahu office said in a statement that the Israeli leader had decided to “occupy the entire Gaza Strip, including the areas where hostages can be held.”
The statement was shared in Hebrew and the term used can be translated to mean both “occupy” and “conquer.” The Netanyahu office did not respond to a request for clarification on the planned definition.
Recent research from the Hebrew University of Israel, informed in Haaretz, estimates that approximately 70 percent of all structures in Gaza have become uninhabitable.
While Israel had fought against numerous conflicts in Gaza since the Hamas militants took over the enclave in 2007, the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 that left 1,200 dead and saw 250 hostages triggered an unprecedented war of ferocity in the territory.
Israel’s military operation has forced most residents of the territory to be displaced several times, and killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, including thousands of children, according to local health officials.
The world leader about hunger, the integrated food security phase, or CPI, has sounded the alarm that the “worst hunger scenario” is now developing in the Palestinian enclave.
With a high elusive fire and some dozen hostages who are still in the hands of militant groups in Gaza, Israel is weighing an expansion of the military campaign.
Netanyahu celebrated a “three -hour security discussion” on Tuesday, according to his office, in which the head of the Israel defense forces presented different options to continue the offensive in Gaza.
Netanyahu will convene its security cabinet at 6:30 pm local time, or 11:30 am et, on Thursday to consider those different options, an Israeli official said to NBC News.
The Times of Israel informs that the cabinet is expected to firm a gradual plan that would initially focus on confiscating the central area of the city of Gaza, before expanding the aid distribution centers in coordination with the United States.
The operation could take place up to five months, according to the report.
The hostages and the Missing Families forum, which represents the hostages in Gaza, says that more than 80 percent of the Israeli want a comprehensive agreement for the return of the hostages and an immediate end of the war.
“Six hundred seventy days, almost two years since October 7, and we continue to listen only to promises,” said the group in a statement on Wednesday.
Einav Tsangauker, the mother of the hostage Matan Tsangauker, asked people who meet outside the cabinet meeting on Thursday to protest against the expansion of the military operation.
“Anyone who talks about an integral agreement will not conquer the strip while endangering hostages and soldiers,” he wrote in an X publication.
There are 50 hostages that remain captive in Gaza, with just over 20 that are believed to be alive at the end of June, according to Netanyahu’s office.
