IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has approved the general outline for the military’s upcoming major offensive to conquer Gaza City, the military said Wednesday.
The approval for the expanded offensive came days after the security cabinet called for the seizure of the Gaza Strip’s largest city, and as Hamas condemned what it called “aggressive” Israeli ground incursions into Gaza City.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not provided a precise timetable for when Israeli troops will enter Gaza City, where an estimated one million Palestinians have taken refuge after fleeing previous offensives.
The military said the “main concept for the IDF’s offensive plan in Gaza” was discussed during a meeting Zamir held Wednesday morning with the General Staff Forum, along with other officers and Shin Bet representatives.
“During the discussion, the IDF’s actions so far were presented, including the offensive in the Zeitoun area that began yesterday,” the military said, confirming that the IDF has begun new operations in the Gaza City neighborhood.
“In addition, the main concept for the plan for the next steps in the Gaza Strip was presented and approved, in accordance with the directives of the political leadership,” the IDF said, referring to the government-ordered offensive against Hamas in Gaza City, which is not set to begin immediately.
Zamir had reportedly pushed back against the plan to take over the city, and has feuded recently with Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The IDF said in the meeting Zamir “emphasized the importance of improving the readiness of the forces and preparedness for reserve call-up, while carrying out refreshers and providing breathing room [for the soldiers] ahead of the upcoming missions.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, with the residential neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra hit “with very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Wednesday that 123 people had been killed over the past day, the highest 24-hour death toll in a week, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israeli planes and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City heavily, residents said, with many homes destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaiya neighborhoods overnight. Al-Ahli hospital said 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a home in Zeitoun.
Tanks also destroyed several houses in the east of Khan Younis in south Gaza, while in the center, Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics claimed. The IDF did not comment.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza, told AFP on Wednesday that “the Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions in Gaza City.”
“These assaults represent a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a new reality on the ground by force, through a scorched-earth policy and the complete destruction of civilian property,” he charged.
Sabah Fatoum, 51, who lives in a tent in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, told AFP by phone that “the explosions are massive” in the area.
There are “many airstrikes and tanks are advancing in the southern area of Tal al-Hawa with drones above our heads,” she said.
“The tanks are still there, and I saw dozens of civilians fleeing” to the west of the city, she added.
According to the Hamas health ministry, at least 235 people including 106 children have died of hunger since the war began in October 2023, with many cases recorded in recent weeks.
As the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to worsen, especially with a record-nearing heatwave hitting the region, efforts to increase aid entry into the Strip have continued, with the Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities (COGAT) saying Wednesday that nearly 320 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
According to COGAT, some 320 trucks’ worth of aid were also picked up by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gaza sides of the crossings to be distributed.
Additionally, three tankers of “UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems” entered Gaza, COGAT adds. It also says it facilitated the entry and exit of aid workers rotating in and out of Gaza.
The UN has said 600 trucks of aid need to be distributed each day at minimum to feed the Strip’s roughly two million people.
The IDF also said aircraft from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy airdropped 119 pallets of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Each pallet contains around one ton of food.
Israel re-adopted a policy of allowing aid airdrops on July 26, amid mounting international criticism over the hunger crisis in Gaza. But airdrops are only able to deliver a small fraction of what can come into Gaza by land. They also pose safety risks for the civilians who can be hit by the packages from above.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Terror groups in Gaza still hold 50 hostages, of whom twenty are believed to be alive, while twenty-eight have been confirmed dead, and the government has expressed “grave concern” about the remaining two.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 60,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 459. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.