Netanyahu reportedly pushes for full occupation of Gaza, as domestic pressure mounts

JERUSALEM

Palestinians ride on a truck loaded with food and humanitarian aid as it moves along the Morag corridor near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prepared to unveil an updated Gaza war plan designed to destroy Hamas and secure the release of dozens of hostages, with Israeli media reporting he would order the total occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu is expected to meet security chiefs in Jerusalem Tuesday to discuss new orders, local media reported.

The timing of the security meeting has not been officially confirmed.

Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said Netanyahu would meet the army chief of staff and the defense and army ministers. Unnamed senior officials told Israeli media he intends to order the re-occupation of Gaza.

"Netanyahu wants the Israeli army to conquer the entire Gaza Strip," said a report on public broadcaster Kan.

The private daily Maariv declared: "The die is cast. We're en route for the total conquest of Gaza."

However, some major media outlets such as Channel 12 have questioned whether the rumored expansion of military operations is merely a negotiating tactic, and whether Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir would oppose such a decision.

"The Chief of Staff is required to express his professional opinion clearly and unequivocally to the political leadership. I am convinced that he will do so," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.

While the reconquest plan has not been officially confirmed, it has already drawn an angry response from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Hamas-run government, which insisted it will not shift its position on ceasefire talks.

"The ball is in the hands of... [Israel] and the Americans," senior Hamas official Husam Badran told AFP, adding that the militant group wanted to "end the war and the famine.”

Domestically, the desperate and vocal families of the 49 remaining hostages are demanding a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home.

New images of two skeletal hostages have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, even as his government considers another expansion of the war, which has already destroyed much of Gaza and pushed it toward famine.

The videos led tens of thousands of Israelis to take to the streets over the weekend and demand a ceasefire deal, in one of the largest turnouts for the weekly protests in recent months.

In the video released by the Islamic Jihad militant group, Rom Braslavski says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. In another video, released by Hamas, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food.

Ofir Braslavski watched as his emaciated son, Rom, writhed in anguish on a dirty mattress somewhere inside the Gaza Strip , in video footage released by Palestinian militants in recent days showing the agony of Israeli hostages.

“You see your child dying before your eyes, and you can’t do anything,” Ofir Braslavski, the father of Rom Braslavski, told The Associated Press from his home. “It drives you crazy, it’s unbearable.”