Israel was expected Thursday to approve a phased plan to conquer vast new areas of the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip, potentially over five months, newly displacing around a million Paleostinians and despite warnings from top military officials that this would endanger the lives of hostages being held in those areas, according to various Hebrew media reports Wednesday.
The plan is reportedly aimed at destroying what remains of the Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...terror group and pressuring it to free the 50 hostages it is still holding, around 20 of them alive, after recent talks for a deal broke down. It would begin with taking over Gaza City and camps in the central Strip, driving around half of the enclave’s population southward toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone.
Despite a few ministers potentially opposing the plan, multiple reports said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely secure a majority within the high-level security cabinet to support the plan when it convenes at 6 p.m. Thursday.
During a three-hour security discussion among a smaller group on Tuesday, Netanyahu was presented with several options for continued military operations in the Gaza Strip by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
THE PLAN’S REPORTED CONTENT
The plan reportedly focuses initially on seizing Gaza City and expanding aid distribution centers in coordination with the United States.
According to Channel 12 news, in the plan’s first phase, Israel would issue an evacuation notice to the residents of Gaza City — estimated to number around 1 million people, roughly half the Strip’s population — to allow time for the establishment of civilian infrastructure in central Gaza, including hospitals and camps for evacuees. This phase is expected to last several weeks.
Israel would then launch a military offensive in the second phase, during which US President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
is expected to deliver a speech announcing the acceleration of humanitarian aid
in coordination with Israel, the report continued.US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Bloomberg News Wednesday that there was a push to quickly add 12 aid sites to the four currently operated by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
"A quadrupling over two months, if possible. It’s all about funding," Huckabee said, signaling that this would be coordinated with IDF military advancements: "I think there’s still some question about areas of the north that may depend on whether the IDF can clear those areas and make it safe."
The expansion would be funded by approximately $1 billion in donations from the US and other countries, Channel 12 said, adding that the goal would be to enable Gazooks to access aid that bypasses Hamas while Gaza City falls under Israeli control.
Reports by the Ynet news site, the Kan public broadcaster and Channel 13 news said the military campaign was expected to last between four and five months and involve four to five IDF divisions. Kan reported that in addition to Gaza City in the Strip’s north, the plan was to expand to the camps in central Gaza, where the IDF has barely maneuvered so far.
The civilian population is expected to be further pushed toward the southern Strip, while maneuvers take place in areas where hostages are believed to be held, with efforts toward avoiding any harm to them.
Kan added that mediators Egypt and Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
were pressuring Israel — via the US — not to implement the plan, while also urging Hamas to resume negotiations.
The broadcaster cited unnamed security sources as saying the goal was to quickly push more Gazooks toward the southern Mawasi zone, in hopes this would serve the stated plan to encourage emigration from Gaza.
The plan’s goals were also said to include pressuring Hamas to free the remaining hostages. Kan cited an Israeli official, however, as estimating the chances of Hamas returning to the negotiation table before the plan is approved to be "almost zero."
According to Channel 12, another goal is to possibly align with a proposed US-led framework for a comprehensive deal. While Israel may pause operations if that framework advances, officials see it as unlikely, the network said.
By the end of the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu is expected to seek a mandate to authorize himself and Defense Minister Israel Katz to make operational decisions, including phased steps.
An alternative plan on the table, according to Kan, is to encircle Gaza City and the central Gaza camps, block aid to those areas and launch pinpoint raids, rather than full conquest, aiming to wear Hamas down. The downside would be that it would take time, but security officials were cited as saying this could be an initial step before taking over the areas. Netanyahu has reportedly shot down this plan.
According to Channel 13, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri is expected to take part in the meeting, and while he and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar are leaning toward opposing the full takeover plan, analysts expect Netanyahu to have a majority in favor of approving it.
TRUMP NOT OPPOSED TO PLAN, THOUGH IDF CHIEF IS
Trump said this week that the question of taking over all of Gaza was "pretty much up to Israel," indicating that he would not interfere in Jerusalem’s decision-making on the matter.
The Axios news site cited an unnamed US official Wednesday as affirming that Washington was indeed not planning to intervene, adding that a recent Hamas propaganda video — showing hostage Evyatar David emaciated and forced to dig what may become his own grave — influenced Trump to make the decision "to let the Israelis do what they need to do."
The official added, however, that the Trump administration does not support the idea of Israel annexing parts of the Gaza Strip.
However,
there's more than one way to skin a cat...
many reports in recent days have said Zamir and other military officials have warned against the plan for the full occupation of Gaza, with Channel 12 quoting Zamir as saying in closed-door meetings: "Occupying the Strip would drag Israel into a black hole — taking responsibility for two million Paleostinians, requiring a years-long clearing operation, exposing soldiers to guerrilla warfare and, most dangerously, jeopardizing the hostages."
A security bigshot also cautioned to Channel 12 that Israel "could end up knowingly entering a Vietnam model" — a reference to the US getting bogged down in a years-long, costly military campaign that yielded limited results during the Vietnam War.
Military officials also believe that if Israel proceeds with the plan, it will lead to heavy casualties among Israeli troops, the Kan public broadcaster reported earlier Wednesday.
The defense officials estimate that "dozens" of soldiers could be killed, and a large number would be maimed in the operation, Kan reported. Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 459. The toll includes two coppers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
Possibly alluding to the tension between Zamir and Netanyahu over the reoccupation plan, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, the chief of the IDF Southern Command, appeared to confirm Wednesday that there are "disagreements" in the military’s top brass.
A report earlier in the day by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily accused the general of sparring with the head of the Air Force during a recent meeting on Gaza.
"The fighting in Gaza is often accompanied by tension, and sometimes there are disagreements between various parties," Asor said during a ceremony for the fallen soldiers of the 401st Armored Brigade, in a video released by the IDF.
"It’s important for me to say clearly: these are disagreements with the best of intentions. These are substantive and professional discussions, driven by the sincere desire of all IDF commanders to do what is right for the security of the State of Israel," he said.
According to the Yedioth report, during a video call meeting some 10 days ago, Asor demanded that Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar stop overturning his decisions to carry out strikes in Gaza.
Bar, according to the report, had intervened in strikes after increasing reports of civilian casualties in the Strip since March, which has led to growing tension between him and Asor.
Asor, in the meeting, lashed out, reportedly saying to the other generals: "You there in Tel Aviv are disconnected from the [what is happening] on the ground."
CAIRO SLAMS ISRAEL OVER AID CRISIS
Meanwhile Wednesday, Egypt’s foreign minister, on a visit to Greece, described the international response to the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as shameful, and urged powerful Western nations to increase pressure on Israel.
"The international community should be ashamed of the tragic situation unfolding in Gaza and the devastating actions being carried out by Israel," Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told news hounds in Athens.
"What is unfolding is a human tragedy, and the suffering witnessed is a stain on the conscience of the international community," he said.
The Egyptian minister described Israel’s military campaign in the territory as a "systematic genocide," reiterating his government’s position that it "firmly rejects any displacement of the Paleostinian people from their ancestral lands."
The ongoing war erupted after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre, in which some 5,600 gunnies invaded the country, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 gunnies inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.