Israel’s security cabinet was set to convene on Thursday to discuss expanding the country’s military campaign across all of Gaza, despite growing domestic opposition to a move that could lead to the killing of more Palestinian civilians and may endanger the lives of Israeli hostages.
The prospect of the Israeli military moving into the rest of Gaza comes as talks to achieve a cease-fire and the release of hostages have hit an impasse, with Israeli and Hamas officials accusing each other of sabotage.
Approval from the security cabinet for the expanded military action would be in defiance of many countries’ urging Israel to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza. In recent weeks, Israel has come under growing pressure from some longstanding allies to do more to address a hunger crisis in the enclave that has killed scores of Palestinians.
Israeli officials have emphasized that Mr. Netanyahu has not made a final decision on whether to expand the military campaign. Some analysts have said that he is threatening to widen the offensive to compel Hamas to offer concessions in the cease-fire negotiations. Even if the security cabinet votes in favor of taking over the remainder of Gaza, it could take days or weeks before Israeli soldiers begin pushing deeper into the territory.
The Israeli military has said that it has conquered roughly 75 percent of Gaza. The coastal strip stretching from Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south is the main area that is outside Israeli control. Many of the two million Palestinians in Gaza, including those displaced from their homes in the territory, have squeezed into tents, makeshift shelters and apartments in those areas.
“I think we’re going in the direction of a victory in the Gaza Strip,” Miki Zohar, Israel’s culture and sports minister, said in an interview on Wednesday with Channel 14, a right-wing Israeli television station. “That means a complete conquering of the strip and control of every area in the strip.”
Mr. Netanyahu has continued to weigh extending Israeli control over all of Gaza despite strong resistance from the military leadership, according to two Israeli security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Officials in the military leadership shared concerns about the exhaustion and fitness of reservists and about the military becoming responsible for governing millions of Palestinians, the security officials said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli military would carry out any decision made by the security cabinet.
The idea of expanding the Gaza operation has also faced sharp criticism from members of Israel’s opposition and from the families of the hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
“Conquering Gaza is a bad operational idea, a bad moral idea and a bad economic idea,” Yair Lapid, the leader of the parliamentary opposition, told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.
The families of hostages expressed concern that extending Israeli control could lead to the military inadvertently killing their loved ones or to Hamas executing them.
About 250 people were taken hostage during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and more than three dozen hostages have been killed while in captivity, according to an investigation by The New York Times.
“Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization, and they’ll kill hostages if the military comes near them,” said Elhanan Danino, whose son, Ori, was killed by his captors a year ago when Israeli soldiers were operating near a tunnel in which he was being held in southern Gaza.
“Every moment they are being held there — being starved — puts their lives at risk,” Mr. Danino added. “I don’t want to see other hostages die the same way our son did.”
For Palestinian civilians, the possibility that Israel could escalate its operation has heightened fears that many more residents could be killed and that their already miserable living conditions in Gaza could become even worse.
“They’re talking about occupying areas that are packed with so many people,” said Mukhlis al-Masri, 34, who was forced to leave his home in northern Gaza and is now in Khan Younis. “If they do that, there will be incalculable killing. The situation will be more dangerous than anyone can imagine.”
On Sunday, Mr. al-Masri said that his brother, brother-in-law and four nephews and nieces had been killed and that his sister had been seriously wounded when a school-turned-shelter was bombed in Khan Younis. He said that he was staying in a tent near Al-Nasr Hospital in the city to be near his sister, who is in the intensive care unit there.
The Israeli military asked for more information about the incident but did not provide any further comment. The military has said in the past that its strikes target militants and their weapons infrastructure in Gaza and has stressed that Hamas has embedded in civilian spaces.