Israel Moves to Expand Military Operations in Gaza

3rd May 2025

3 minutes read

Israel Moves to Expand Military Operations in Gaza

Israel is moving toward expanding its military operations in the Gaza Strip and calling up tens of thousands of reservists amid stalled ceasefire negotiations.

This direction became evident during several hours of deliberations on Friday, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attended by senior ministers, military commanders, and intelligence leaders.

However, the final decision will be made during a meeting of the Security Cabinet (“the Cabinet”) scheduled for Sunday under Netanyahu’s leadership.

The plan is to gradually escalate military operations in Gaza rather than launch a full-scale assault at once, while waiting for the results of U.S. President Donald Trump’s mid-May visit to the Gulf region, which could potentially open a path toward a deal. Mediator efforts toward a truce are also being awaited.

Security Discussions

According to Israel’s Channel 12: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a limited security discussion on Friday evening, during which it was decided to deepen the operation in Gaza, but a full-scale maneuver is not expected at this stage.”

The channel added: “Tens of thousands of reservists are expected to be called up in the coming days and weeks to support increased military activity in the Gaza Strip. They are expected to enter Gaza and operate similarly to how the Israeli army did in Rafah — that is, by completely destroying Hamas’s infrastructure while shrinking the area available to civilians.”

The goal of this strategy is to increase pressure on Hamas through hostage deal mediators, pushing them to show flexibility and agree to release the hostages.

The report continued: “Israel will wait for President Donald Trump’s visit to Gulf states in mid-May to assess whether he can initiate a deal for the hostages’ release.”

It added: “If this step fails, the Israeli army will intensify its operations in Gaza to the point of a full-scale ground maneuver.”

Seizure and Isolation

Israel’s public broadcaster reported: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi, and top military leadership held a preliminary discussion in Tel Aviv on Friday, ahead of Sunday’s Security Cabinet meeting.”

According to the broadcaster, the Cabinet is expected to approve a significant expansion of the ground operation in Gaza in light of the continued stalemate in the hostage release deal.

Senior military officials presented a plan to ramp up military pressure — including the seizure of areas similar to what was done in Rafah. The plan also involves isolating certain regions within Gaza, locating and eliminating militants both above and below ground, and maintaining an Israeli military presence in these areas to pressure Hamas during negotiations.

As part of the plan, thousands of infantry and armored unit reservists are being prepared for deployment, many of whom have already received call-up notices.

Yedioth Ahronoth also reported on its digital platform: “The Security Cabinet is expected to approve on Sunday plans to escalate the fighting in Gaza, including expanding the mobilization of reservists.”

It added: “In recent days, many reservist officers have told their troops to prepare for an unplanned call-up.”

Finally, Israel’s public broadcaster revealed that new satellite images show the Israeli military building a new humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, near Morag Road, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis, and along the Philadelphi route on the Gaza-Egypt border.