Gaza - Israel's security cabinet approved the expansion of military operations in including the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory, an official said Monday, after the army called up tens of thousands of reservists.
This picture taken from Israel's southern border shows burning fields in front of destroyed houses in northern Gaza on May 4, 2025. © Menahem KAHANA / AFP
The plan, approved overnight, includes the holding of territories in the besieged Gaza Strip and comes alongside Israel's telling Gaza residents to leave, the official said.
Israel on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire.
Israel has since carried out intensive aerial bombardments and expanded ground assaults across the Palestinian territory, with Gaza rescuers on Monday saying Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the north.
The Israeli official said the plan for expanded operations "will include, among other things, the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection."
The majority of Gaza's residents hail from the north of the territory, particularly Gaza City, and nearly all have been displaced at least once since October 2023.
The cabinet, which includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several ministers, "unanimously approved" the plan, which the official source said involves "powerful strikes against Hamas," without specifying their nature.
On Sunday, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the military was calling up "tens of thousands" of reservists to expand its offensive.
The health ministry in Gaza said Sunday that at least 2,436 people had been killed since Israel resumed its all-out assault on March 18, bringing the overall death toll to 52,535 – although the true number is believed to be far higher.
Palestinians line up for a hot meal at a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 4, 2025. © Eyad BABA / AFP
Alongside the plan to expand military operations, Prime Minister Netanyahu "continues to promote" a proposal by US President Donald Trump for the departure of Gazans to neighboring countries, the source added.
Days after taking office in January, Trump floated a by moving the population out of the war-battered territory, suggesting that Egypt or Jordan could take them in.
Both countries, along with other Arab allies, governments around the world, and the Palestinians themselves, have .
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in February that a special agency would be established for the "voluntary departure" of Gazans.
Israel's security cabinet also approved overnight the "possibility of humanitarian distribution" in Gaza, which has been under full Israeli blockade since March 2. It claimed there was "currently enough food" in the territory, although humanitarian organizations and UN agencies have warned of the blockade's dire consequences for Gaza's 2.4 million people.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has said Israel's assault and blockade has depleted its food stocks and that the 25 bakeries it supports in Gaza have closed due to a lack of flour and fuel.
The Israeli cabinet "approved by a large majority the possibility of a humanitarian distribution, if necessary, to prevent Hamas from taking control of the supplies and to destroy its governance capabilities," the official said.
AFP photos published over the weekend showed crowds of Gazans, including children, gathering at a charity kitchen in the territory, desperate for a bite to eat.
