Gaza Occupation Plan Takes Final Shape Despite Truce Talks
A Hebrew report reveals sharp disagreements over the size of the force needed to implement the plan: Eyal Zamir suggests 220,000 troops versus the 80,000 planned by the army.
Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir outlined on Tuesday the stages of the plan to occupy Gaza City, a move that underscores Israel’s leadership’s determination to pursue its military strategy despite ongoing indirect ceasefire talks between Tel Aviv and Hamas.
The plan comes amid deep divisions within Israel’s security establishment over the scale of forces required for its execution.
According to a report by the Hebrew news site Walla, there is significant disagreement between the Chief of Staff and the cabinet. Zamir and Operations Division Chief Itzik Cohen estimated that occupying Gaza would require 220,000 soldiers.
This figure — more than double the 80,000 troops the army intends to deploy — surprised members of the Security Cabinet.
The report states that the army plans to limit itself to 80,000 troops to surround and seize the city, with the aim of destroying Hamas’s core infrastructure and its remaining governing structures.
A senior military source familiar with the preparations described the plan as “very extensive and bound to exact a heavy toll on Hamas, but also carrying major risks for Israeli forces.”
On Sunday, Zamir approved the plan to occupy Gaza City, pending final authorization by Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Tuesday, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
On August 8, the Israeli government approved a plan put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gradually reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City.
The strategy involves the forced displacement of roughly one million residents to the south, followed by the city’s encirclement and incursions into residential areas.
On August 11, as part of the plan’s implementation, the Israeli army launched a large-scale assault on Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood. The offensive included the demolition of homes using booby-trapped robots, artillery shelling, random gunfire, and forced displacement, according to eyewitnesses.
Walla reported that Zamir would present to Katz on Tuesday the detailed stages of the plan, including “the integration of conclusions and the incorporation of core principles to make the city’s occupation more effective.”
The stages also involve “reinforcing Israeli military forces in northern Gaza in preparation for the assault on Gaza City, as part of intensifying military pressure on Hamas and wresting control of its strongholds,” the outlet said.
The report added that “most of the tasks of occupying Gaza City will fall on regular forces.”
It further noted that the army “will prepare to control Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to civilians outside combat zones.” An overwhelming majority of ministers agreed that the alternative plan discussed would not defeat Hamas or secure the release of hostages.
These preparations are underway despite ongoing indirect ceasefire negotiations between Tel Aviv and Hamas. Hamas has agreed to an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a 60-day suspension of military operations.
The group has repeatedly declared its readiness to release all Israeli captives “in one batch,” in exchange for an end to the war of extermination, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu, wanted by international justice, has previously evaded this by imposing new conditions, including the disarmament of Palestinian factions, while continuing to insist on reoccupying Gaza.
Backed by the United States, Israel has waged since October 7, 2023 what has been described as a campaign of genocide in Gaza — involving mass killings, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement — ignoring international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The assault has left 62,004 dead, 156,230 injured, the majority of them women and children, over 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine claiming 263 lives, including 112 children.
