Israeli Prime Minister’s security office, Benjamin Netanyahu, voted to intensify the offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, to the point of taking all the enclave and keeping their territories, spoke an Israeli authority on Monday (5).
A report by Israeli public broadcaster Kan, citing authorities with knowledge of the details, said the new plan would be gradual and would take months, with the forces first focused on an area of ​​the devastated territory.
Such a schedule could make way for a ceasefire and negotiations for the release of hostages before US President Donald Trump’s visit to the region next week, according to Security Office Minister Zeev Elkin.
“There is still a window of opportunity until the Republican concludes the visit to the Middle East if Hamas understands that we are serious,” Elkin commented to Kan on Monday (5).
Already controlling about one third of the territory of Gaza, Israel resumed land operations in March, after the collapse of a US-backed cease-fire that had interrupted the combat for two months.
Since then, the country has imposed a total blockade on humanitarian aid in the territory.
Elkin said that instead of launching attacks on specific areas and then abandoning them, as the military has so far done, the Israeli forces will now keep the territories they take, until Hamas is defeated or agrees to disarm and leave Gaza.
Hamas dismissed such requests.
Israel has not yet shown a clear view to Gaza in the postwar, as it faces international pressure to end a campaign that has shifted the majority of the population of 2.3 million and made it dependent on humanitarian aid supplies that have been decreasing rapidly from blocking.
The Israeli authority said that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population to the south and would prevent humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands, although the block is not yet raised.
The United Nations rejected on Sunday (4) which said it was a new plan for the distribution of help in what they described as Israeli centers.
On Monday (5), Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Council for refugees, said on social network X that Israel was demanding that the UN and non-governmental organizations end the site distribution system at the site.
“They want to manipulate and militarize all the help to civilians, forcing us to deliver supplies through centers designed by the Israeli army, as soon as the government agrees to reopen the crossings. The NRC will defend our humanitarian principles and, with all our peers, will refuse to participate in this new scheme.”
After Two Months Of Devasting BlockAde and Starvation of Gaza, Israeli Officials Demand That We Shut Down the Universal Aid Distribution System Run by the un and ngos like NRC. They want to manipulate and militarize all aid to civilians, forcing us to deliver supplies through…
– Jan Egeland (@nrc_egeland) May 5, 2025
The head of the Staff of Israel, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, spoke on Sunday (5) that the army has already begun to issue tens of thousands of call orders to its reserve forces, seeking to expand the campaign in Gaza.
He later warned the ministers that the help should arrive at the scene soon, according to Kan.
The war was triggered by the Hamas attack to Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli data, and led Gaza to Gaza on the deadliest day to Israel in its history.
The Israeli land and air campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to local health officials, and left much of Gaza in ruins.
It is believed that up to 24 of the 59 hostages still kept in Gaza are alive.
Families fear that fighting put their loved ones in danger, while critics say Israel is in danger of being dragged into a long guerrilla war with limited gains and without a clear strategy.
Successive research shows a decrease in public support to the war between the Israelis, many of whom prefer to see a ceasefire agreement firm and more hostages released.
Hamas says it will free hostages only as part of an agreement that will end the war and cause Israeli forces to withdraw from all Gaza.
This content was originally published in Israeli Office announces expansion of the land offensive in Gaza on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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