The news came after the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan that could include the entire occupation of Gaza and control of humanitarian aid.
An Israeli defense official said the campaign would not start immediately but would wait until President Donald Trump ends his visit to the Middle East next week, Reuters reported.
According to Israeli media, the new plan will be implemented in stages over several months, starting in a specific area in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have now taken control of about a third of Gaza, building a watchtower and a surveillance area, described as a "security zone". The expansion plan will go further, with the goal of occupying the entire Gaza Strip, pushing civilians south and preventing aid from falling into Hamas' hands.
Netanyahu stressed that future attacks will no longer be based on short raids, but instead on keeping the captured lands intact. The distribution of aid will be transferred to private companies and implemented in the Rafah area, instead of being coordinated by international organizations or the United Nations as before. Some Israeli government ministers believe that international organizations have let Hamas appropriate aid for civilians.
The expansion operation has been welcomed by tough figures in the Israeli government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said: "We will eventually conquer Gaza".
However, the war has increasingly encountered domestic reactions. Many Israelis expressed their desire for an agreement to return the remaining 59 hostages. Some families of the victims fear that the new campaign will not achieve what they expect. protests broke out in front of the Israeli parliament with a fight between protests and police.
The Israeli military has begun calling up tens of thousands of reserve troops to prepare for the new operation. However, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that aid still needs to be sent to Gaza early and opposed the proposal to tighten the blockade.
