Israeli tanks mass at an IDF staging area near the Gaza border in southern Israel on Wednesday as preparations gather pace ahead of an impending military offensive to take over and occupy Gaza City. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
Israel Defense Forces began calling up 60,000 reservists Wednesday as the country moved closer to launching a major military offensive to occupy Gaza City, despite opposition from the international community and a possible peace deal on the table.
A spokesperson told NBC News that Defense Minister Israel Katz had approved operational plans for the ground assault on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet in the coming days.
The IDF said the additional troops would report for duty in September, and while most of those deployed for the mission would be active-duty personnel, the tours of duty of 20,000 other reservists were also being extended.
Advance forces were already operating in the Zeitoun district of Gaza City and Jabalia, just to the north, “dismantling military infrastructures above and below ground, eliminating terrorists, and consolidating operational control, “according to a senior Israeli military official.
The official said chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, was expected in the next few days to approve the plan calling for a “gradual” and “precise” operation in and around Gaza City that would ultimately see five divisions mobilized — up to 125,000 troops.
The offensive, which received the preliminary backing from the security cabinet on Aug. 8, is likely to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the north to the south of the strip, concentrating more and more people into areas where already widespread hunger is escalating into a full-blown crisis.
The United Nations and NGOs have warned those areas, including al Mawasi near Khan Younis, are “overcrowded and ill-equipped to sustain human survival at scale.”
The U.N. and the other agencies have repeatedly warned that any new offensive would inflict a very high price on the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza — warnings they reiterated on Monday.
“The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza City will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced and deprived of basics needed for survival. Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer,” they said in a joint statement.
“Southern hospitals are operating at several times their capacity, and taking on patients from the north would have life-threatening consequences,” the statement added.
Domestic opposition to the war, and specifically the new offensive from families fearful of what it might mean for loved ones still being held hostage in Gaza or sent to fight there, continued to mount with days of street protests and strikes across the country.
Israel on Wednesday had yet to give its official response to a cease-fire and hostage-prisoner swap deal negotiated by Egyptian and Qatari officials, which Hamas and other Palestinian groups have signed onto.
