Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the plan to conquer the city of Gaza and ordered 60,000 reservists to mobilizewhile the mediators continue waiting on Wednesday’s response from the Hebrew government to a New truce proposal in the devastated Palestinian territory.
The security cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had authorized at the beginning of the month a Plan to take this city militarily and the adjacent refugee camps, as well as getting control of the entire strip, freeing the hostages and disarming the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
The hostages were captured in Hamas’s surprise attack October 7, 2023. Since then, the Israeli retaliation offensive caused tens of thousands of dead and a humanitarian disaster denounced by the international community.
Minister Katz “has approved the Israeli army attack plan In Ciudad de Gaza, “the largest town in this Palestinian coastal territory, AFP told AFP.
Likewise, he authorized “the issuance of mobilization orders of the necessary reservists to carry out the mission”, which add up to 60,000 men.
In these 22 months of war, the Israeli army took around the 75% of the Gaza Strip.
In recent days he intensified his air attacks and his operations in the land in Gaza and the fields of surrounding refugees, considered as the last bastions of Hamas.
The Israeli website Walla said in that regard that “Division 99 is about to complete the conquest of the Zeitún neighborhood”, in Gaza City. The “next objective” is the neighboring neighborhood of Al Sabra.
War hero
The Military operation in Gaza City And its surroundings will be “progressive, precise and selective,” a military manager told the press on Wednesday.
“Some of these places are areas where we have not previously operated, where Hamas still retains military capacity. We have already begun to operate the necessary conditions in Zeitún and Jabaliya,” further south, he said.
On the field, the local civil defense reported that 21 people died my arousoles in Israeli attacks and shots.
The Army “is preparing for a prolonged operation” that “will continue until 2026,” said the Military Radio.
As published on Wednesday the newspaper Ma’ariv, a hundred soldiers could die in the city of Gaza. In total, 462 military died in the enclave from the beginning of the offensive.
The decision of the head of Defense arrives two days after the Islamist movement indicated to have accepted a new proposal of the mediators (Egypt, Catar and the United States).
Israel still does not formally react to the initiative.
The proposition is based on a previous plan of the American envoy Steve Witkoffwhich had been validated by Israel.
This contemplates the release of ten living hostages and the mortal remains of 18 deaths in exchange for a high fire of 60 days and negotiations to end the war. The remaining captives would be released after a second phase of negotiations, according to sources of Hamas and the Islamic jihad consulted on Wednesday.
A senior Israeli official indicated that the Netanyahu Cabinet “has not changed” politics and continues to “demand the liberation” of all hostages in one time, “in accordance with the fixed principles” to end the war.
Invited to a television program, the US president, Donald Trump, described on Tuesday night the Israeli prime minister of “War hero”.
Two previous truces
The two previous trucesin November 2023 and early 2025, they allowed the return of living hostages and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
From the beginning of the war, Israel Asedia Gaza and its more than two million Palestinians, threatened by a “generalized famine”, according to the United Nations. Israel rejects these accusations, and claims to have authorized the entry of more help in recent weeks.
The conflict was triggered by Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, during which Islamist militiamen killed 1,219 peoplemostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
They also kidnapped 251 hostages, of which 49 are still captive in Gaza, including 27 dead, according to the Israeli army.
In Gaza, the Israeli reprisals have killed 62,064 peoplemostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Territory -governor by Hamas -, considered reliable by the UN.
