Israel will give Palestinians in Gaza until October 7 to evacuate before it launches a full military occupation.
Set for the two-year anniversary of the Hamas massacre which triggered the latest war, the expansion has drawn fresh condemnation both at home and abroad.
In Israel, families of hostages held by militants in Gaza and opposition leaders blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a decision that they said would put captives’ lives at risk.
The Hostage Relatives Forum, an organisation representing the majority of hostage families, called the expansion of the war in Gaza a ‘death sentence’ for those still held in the enclave.
A spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres says Israel’s plan for Gaza City marks a ‘dangerous escalation’ in the enclave.
‘Palestinians in Gaza continue to endure a humanitarian catastrophe of horrific proportions,’ the statement reads.
‘The Secretary-General warns that this further escalation will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza.’
The Security Council will meet in a rare weekend session tomorrow to discuss the plan, three diplomatic sources have told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Far-right allies in Netanyahu’s coalition have been pushing for a total takeover of Gaza as part of his vow to eradicate Hamas militants.
However, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is reported to have expressed concern over the move, saying it could endanger the lives of remaining hostages.
Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, criticised the Security Cabinet’s backing of the takeover of Gaza City.
He said the move was ‘a disaster that will lead to many more disasters’ and was made in ‘complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks’.
‘This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be mired on the ground with no purpose, without defining the day after picture, in a pointless occupation that no one understands where it is leading,’ he said on X.
Israel’s air and ground war has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine.
There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations.
Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July.
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Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are preparing a new framework that will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go, in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told The Associated Press.
Before Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the plan to take over Gaza City, Netanyahu told Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer in an interview that aired on Thursday that the military intended to take control of all of Gaza.
He said Israel did not want to keep the Gaza Strip, but to establish a ‘security perimeter’ and to hand over the territory to Arab forces.
It’s unclear how many people are still in Gaza City, the territory’s largest before the war.
Hundreds of thousands fled under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the conflict, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year.
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