Both the military leadership and several ministers oppose such a resource-intensive and potentially bloody expansion of the war in the Palestinian area. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still expected to get the plans through, at a cabinet meeting that begins at 17 Swedish time.
According to leaks to Israeli media, it's about expanding the military presence to a total occupation of the Strip. The first focus is on taking control of Gaza City, which, despite great devastation after many Israeli air strikes, is believed to house a million people, writes The Times of Israel.
Phase one will mean evacuation orders for all the people in the city, while Israeli authorities build up medical facilities and other infrastructure in central Gaza Strip, reports Israel's public media company Kan.
Once this is done, a new military offensive will come in phase two, when even the heavily criticized humanitarian efforts will be greatly expanded, to reach more of the Gaza Strip's two million inhabitants.
Distribution is to be expanded
On the humanitarian front, Israel's authorities have been heavily criticized in the outside world, after having tightened the influx of aid so much that many of the Gaza Strip's inhabitants barely have any food and drinking water at all. Even aid deliveries of medical equipment and medicines are reported to have been reduced to virtually zero.
Even the aid distribution that takes place has become very controversial, as Israeli soldiers open fire on aid seekers, with a number of fatalities as a result every day.
The distribution takes place via GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation), a new American-Israeli initiative with unclear funding and few distribution sites. But US Ambassador Mike Huckabee tells Bloomberg News that they will soon expand the number of sites from four to 16.
Chaotic zones
The plans, however, are full of question marks, and the subject of heated debate even in Israel. The safe zones designated by Israel, primarily al-Mawasi in the south, are already chaotic and full of hundreds of thousands of evacuees' tent dwellings – the question is how they will be able to accommodate even more large numbers of desperate refugees.
Many Israelis also see it as Netanyahu abandoning the hostages that the extremist Islamist Hamas holds since the movement's major attack that started the war in October 2023. Only about twenty of the hostages are believed to still be alive. Relatives' movements demand that the Israeli government focus on a peace agreement that means the hostages are released rather than new military actions.
