By Alexander Cornwell and Nidal al-Mughrabi
TEL AVIV/CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet with a small group of senior ministers on Thursday to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza, despite mounting criticism at home and abroad over the nearly two-year-old war there.
Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet following a three-hour meeting this week with the head of the military, which Israeli officials described as tense, saying the military chief had pushed back on expanding the campaign.
Opinion polls show that most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages. Netanyahu’s government has insisted on total victory over the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel.
The idea of Israeli forces pushing into areas it does not already control in the shattered Palestinian enclave has generated alarm in Israel. The mother of one hostage on Thursday urged people to take to the streets to voice their opposition to expanding the campaign.
“Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesn’t go and conquer the Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger,” Einav Zangauker wrote on X in comments directed at Netanyahu.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents captives held in Gaza, urged military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to oppose expanding the war and called on the government to accept a deal that would end bring the war to an end and free the remaining hostages.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the military would carry out the government’s decisions until all war objectives were achieved. Israeli leaders have long insisted that Hamas be disarmed and have no future role in a demilitarised Gaza and that the hostages be freed.
The U.N. has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.
There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far came about as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen some hostages released collapsed in July.
Videos released last week of two living hostages showed them as emaciated and frail, triggering international condemnation.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only parts of the territory, insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war, while Israel accuses the group of lacking sincerity about giving up power afterward.
MULTIPLE DISPLACEMENTS
The Israeli military says it controls about 75% of Gaza. Most of Gaza’s population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning that the enclave’s residents are on the verge of famine.
“Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough,” said Aya Mohammad, 30, who, after repeated displacement, has returned with her family to their community in Gaza City.
“You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine,” she told Reuters.
Close to 200 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began, nearly half of them have been children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Rabeeha Jamal, 65, a mother of six, has remained in her house in Gaza despite warnings in the past from the Israeli military to leave. For now, she said she intends to stay.
“Not until they force us if the tanks roll in, otherwise, I will not go running in the street to be killed later,” she said, calling for an end to the war. “We don’t have anywhere to go.”
Netanyahu is under intense international pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement, but he also faces internal pressure from within his coalition to continue the war. Some far-right allies in his government have pushed for a full occupation of Gaza and for Israel to reestablish settlements there, two decades after it withdrew.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters Wednesday that he hoped the government would approve the military taking control over the rest of Gaza.
About 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken to Gaza in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to the Gaza health officials, who said that at least 20 people had been killed in air strikes across the territory on Thursday.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv and Nidal al-Mughrabi in CairoAdditional reporting by Steven Scheer in JerusalemEditing by Frances Kerry)
