After 22 months of full-scale battle, killing greater than 60,000 Palestinians and forcing Gaza to the brink of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly making ready to defy worldwide, home and navy opinion by escalating the battle on Gaza nonetheless additional and ordering its full occupation.
“The die is forged – we’re going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip,” Israeli media cited an nameless official, supposedly quoting Netanyahu, as saying.
Assembly with senior safety officers on Tuesday, Netanyahu was stated to have come out in help of the navy taking full management of Gaza, even when it meant that the remaining Israeli captives there could be harmed or killed.
The destiny of the captives taken throughout the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has been a relentless theme all through Israel’s battle on Gaza and rescuing them was one of many battle goals Netanyahu claimed at its outset.
Nevertheless, regardless of the destruction of a lot of Gaza and the displacement and hunger of a lot of its inhabitants, many captives stay and the territory the place they’re thought to now be is outdoors Israeli navy management.
“Netanyahu desires to proceed the battle,” Ahron Bregman, a political scientist at King’s School London and former Israeli officer, stated, echoing a widespread criticism of the prime minister.
“He desires time. He desires time to keep up his coalition and time to tug out his corruption trial,” he stated of the legal prices which have dogged Netanyahu since 2019.
Motivation
The precise purpose for this newest potential offensive stays unclear. Some have recommended that speak of occupation is a tactic to deliver Hamas again to the negotiating desk.
The siege Israel imposed on Gaza after breaking the final ceasefire in March has triggered worldwide outrage due to the hunger it has triggered. Others have recommended it could even be a real try to eradicate Hamas and eventually break no matter spirit stays in Gaza’s inhabitants and drive them into “focus zone” camps.
“It might be any of them,” Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg stated. “Netanyahu has confirmed previously that he doesn’t care about fashionable opinion or mass protest, so long as his right-wing base is completely satisfied.
“We noticed that in Rafah, which he destroyed, and we noticed that with Iran, which he attacked. It doesn’t matter what most individuals suppose. He simply must maintain the bottom on facet and fear about elections later. This has been the technique for a lot of the final two years.”
The true query is whether or not the military is able to occupying all of Gaza, Flaschenberg added.
Palestinians dealing with immense difficulties accessing meals as a result of blockade imposed by Israel wait to obtain scorching meals in Gaza on August 5, 2025 (Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu)
“There’s large fatigue inside the navy, in depth PTSD (post-traumatic stress dysfunction) and big numbers of each overt and gray (personal) refusals,” he stated of what was estimated by the Israeli journal +972 in April to be a shortfall in troops of greater than 100,000.
“This isn’t lifelike in any respect,” former US Particular Forces commander Colonel Seth Krummrich of worldwide safety agency World Guardian stated of Netanyahu’s plans to occupy Gaza.
“To seize and maintain terrain takes an infinite variety of troopers and sources. The Israeli inhabitants is split on this problem, so there are home headwinds that won’t help this stage of mobilisation,” he stated of widespread protests in Israel calling for an finish to the battle.
Refuseniks
No matter the politics, many within the Israeli military and safety companies have opposed Netanyahu’s and his right-wing allies’ plans to occupy Gaza, in addition to persevering with with the battle on the enclave extra typically.
A number of senior Israeli navy officers, together with Chief of Employees Lieutenant Basic Eyal Zamir, are understood to oppose any additional escalation in Gaza in any respect.
On Tuesday, greater than 600 former Israeli senior safety officers signed an open letter calling on US President Donald Trump to make use of his affect to assist deliver the battle to a detailed.
“It’s our skilled judgement that Hamas now not poses a strategic menace to Israel,” the Commanders for Israel’s Safety (CIS) group stated in a submit on X, the place it shared the open letter to President Donald Trump
CIS describes itself as “Israel’s largest group of former (Israeli navy) generals and Mossad, Shin Wager, Police, and Diplomatic Corps equivalents”.
“From the navy viewpoint, (Hamas) is completely destroyed. Alternatively, as an ideology, it’s getting increasingly more energy among the many Palestinian folks, inside the Arab avenue round us, and in addition on the earth of Islam,” Ami Ayolon, the previous head of Israel’s Shin Wager inner intelligence company and one of many letter’s signatories, instructed the BBC.
“The dearth of help from the higher echelons of the navy would additionally show important,” Colonel Krummrich added. “The navy management has to ‘personal’ this operation. If it fails, the navy management will get blamed. They should persuade their troopers that it’s price the fee, particularly over the long run – doubtlessly stretching into years,” he stated.
Photograph taken throughout a managed embed tour with the Israeli military and subsequently edited underneath navy supervision – The Israeli military is reported to be exhausted and struggling important shortages of reservists (File: Carlos Reyes/AFP)
Why would Netanyahu push for the occupation of Gaza?
Any additional escalation in Gaza can also be sure to show unpopular with the general public, which is already uninterested in the infinite battle, analysts stated.
Some polls present widespread public opposition in Israel to the battle, with frustration over Netanyahu’s repeated excuses for his authorities’s failure to achieve a ceasefire deal, which may deliver the remaining captives dwelling, tangible.
Critically, in Could, a ballot for Israel’s Channel 12 confirmed that the majority Israelis thought Netanyahu cared extra about clinging to energy than he did profitable the battle.
“While you have a look at the checklist of people that’ve come out in opposition to this, together with Zamir, it begs the query why,” Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham Home stated. “Are Hamas actually so nice a menace that you simply’d sacrifice the hostages, sacrifice troopers’ lives and sacrifice what’s left of the nation’s status?” he requested.
“He’s turn into fully fractured from actuality,” Professor Mekelberg stated. “It’s insanity. A half-decent human being, no, a quarter-decent human being, would have resigned way back, however all the things with Netanyahu is about his political survival.”
