Bitter rifts are emerging in Israel over reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning a full military occupation of Gaza, a move critics say would endanger hostages held in the strip and push the country's exhausted armed forces to breaking point.
The Prime Minister has been hinting in recent days of an expanded campaign in the Palestinian enclave, with senior officials telling Israeli media major operations are imminent. Mr Netanyahu is using the term “occupation” to describe the plan in conversations with ministers, according to a report on Israeli news website Ynet.
Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday held a held a "limited security discussion" lasting about three hours, during which the army's chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, presented options for continuing the campaign in Gaza, his office said.
The military "is prepared to implement any decision that will be made by the Political-Security Cabinet," the office added in a post on X.
Israeli network Channel 12 said the Prime Minister would hold a Cabinet meeting at some point this week.
Mr Netanyahu's plan involves pushing troops into the estimated 25 per cent of Gaza's territory that the Israeli military has not yet occupied, according to multiple Israeli media reports. These areas include central parts of refugee camps that Israel has so far deemed too dangerous to enter for fear of endangering the lives of hostages that might be held there.
There are no indications from Israel about what such a plan would mean for Gaza's civilians, whose lives are already blighted by rising starvation after months of an Israeli blockade. Eight more people were reported dead from starvation by Gaza health officials on Tuesday, bringing the total to 188 including 94 children.
Speaking on Tuesday at an army training site, Mr Netanyahu said only that the army must "complete" the defeat of Hamas in Gaza to secure the release of hostages, giving little away about the possible expansion of the war. Israel also aims to "ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Mr Netanyahu said.
Lt Gen Zamir is reported to be strongly opposed to the reoccupation plan, according to The Times of Israel, given the complexity of dismantling areas in which Hamas is deeply embedded. The toll such an operation would take on exhausted troops after 669 days of war is also thought to be of concern.
Many human rights bodies considered Gaza to fully occupied even before the war, with Israel controlling access by land and sea as well as the territory's airspace. Mr Netanyahu’s plan would, however, extend Israeli control over the strip to a new level, paving the way for a potential total displacement of Gazan civilians and even annexation, a major goal of some members of his far-right government who want Israel to resettle the area.
Efforts in recent weeks to increase aid distribution have been chaotic and a major new military operation would be expected to complicate humanitarian efforts. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for UN humanitarian body OCHA, said he was in no mood to "clap and say thank you" when only a modest amount of aid has been allowed in.
"Aid has gone in with dozens of trucks per day ... the needs inside Gaza are such that there should be hundreds and hundreds," Mr Laerke said. He said that level of aid might need to be sustained for months or even years to restore a proper level of nutrition.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir piled pressure on the army chief over his alleged reluctance. “The Chief of Staff is required to state clearly that he will fully comply with the directives of the political echelon, even if a decision is made for conquest and decisive action,” the minister wrote on X.
Other ministers expressed support for Lt Gen Zamir, with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar writing on X: “The Chief of Staff is required to express his professional opinion clearly and unequivocally to the political echelon. I am convinced that he will do so.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for any differences over the occupation plan to remain behind closed doors, writing on X that “soldiers don’t need to think that a divided and conflicted leadership is leading them, that the political echelon does not respect their commander, that they are selling them out for a headline”.
The latest tension comes against a backdrop of rising anger in Israel over the war, now in its 23rd month. Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, urged US President Donald Trump on Monday to pressure Israel's leadership to end the war.
“It is our professional judgment that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former officials wrote in an open letter.
