Israel to call up thousands of reservists, considers expanding Gaza war

TEL AVIV – Israel will call up tens of thousands of reservists, military officials said Sunday, as the country’s political leadership considers expanding the Israel Defense Forces’ area of operations and overhauling the distribution of food within the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve the new Gaza war plans at a meeting Sunday evening, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

Israel ended its two-month ceasefire with Hamas and resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18. Since then, the Israeli military has dramatically altered the map of the enclave, declaring about 70% of it either a military “red zone” or under evacuation orders, by a U.N. assessment, and pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into ever-shrinking pockets.

The expanded operations now being discussed involve seizing and occupying more territory in Gaza, which will require more ground troops, according to a former Israeli military official with knowledge of the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.

The plans stop short of the complete military occupation of Gaza that the IDF has weighed, the official said. Implementing such an occupation is considered difficult, but not impossible, given the staffing levels required, the official said.

“We are issuing tens of thousands of reserve call-up orders to intensify and expand the operation in Gaza – increasing the pressure with the goal of bringing our people home and defeating Hamas,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said in a speech Sunday at a naval commando base. “We will operate in additional areas and destroy all infrastructure – above and below ground.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was also expected to ratify a plan to take control of – and sharply reduce – the distribution of lifesaving aid inside the territory. Israel would establish up to six hubs at which humanitarian workers would hand packages of food and supplies directly to vetted civilian families while private U.S. contractors provided security.

International aid groups say that the plan violates their rules on impartiality in aid distribution and that the presence of armed people could lead to outbreaks of violence at the distribution zones.

Since Israel broke its ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, IDF operations have killed more than 2,400 Palestinians and injured more than 6,400, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Hamas-led fighters streamed out of Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, to attack communities in southern Israel. They killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took another 250 back to the enclave as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at eradicating Hamas. Since the October 2023 attack, it has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in March that he had instructed the IDF to seize Palestinian territory permanently if the hostages were not released. He did not provide details or a time frame.

“I have instructed the IDF to seize additional territory in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza to better protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” Katz said in a statement then. “The more Hamas refuses to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose – territory that will be annexed to Israel.”

“We will intensify the fighting with blows from the air, sea, and land, and by expanding the ground maneuver, until the hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated,” he said.

Earlier Sunday, Yemen’s Houthis launched a missile that fell near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, injuring six people, according to emergency services, and disrupting air traffic. The Iranian-backed militant group said it launched the attack in support of the Palestinian people and warned international airlines to suspend flights to and from Israel. The group has attacked vessels traversing the Red Sea, a key global shipping route, in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Netanyahu blamed Iran for supporting the Houthis and vowed to retaliate against the militant group.

“We are taking action against them,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on social media. “As we have done in the past, we will do so in the future. The U.S. is also operating against them in coordination with us. It’s not ‘boom and we’re done’ – but there will be ‘booms.’”

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Timsit reported from London and Shih from Jerusalem.