Amid ceasefire talks, Israel says it has expanded ground operations in Gaza

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military announced Sunday that its forces had begun “extensive ground operations” throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip, advancing its plan to move farther into the enclave and seize more land in an intensified campaign likely to displace more civilians there.

This new stage in the 19-month war is aimed at pressuring Hamas into releasing the hostages it is still holding and ultimately destroying the group or forcing it to surrender, according to the Israeli government and military officials.

But details were scarce, and it was not immediately clear how far the Israeli forces would go at this stage, or which areas of Gaza would be most affected.

Israeli warplanes have been pounding Gaza in recent days to prepare the way for the expansion of ground operations, the military said, adding that the wave of strikes had hit what it described as more than 670 “Hamas terror targets.”

So far, the military said, it has killed “dozens” of Hamas operatives and has destroyed military infrastructure used by the group both above and below ground. But many civilians, including children, have been killed, according to Palestinian officials and residents of Gaza.

The expansion of military operations comes even as Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks for a ceasefire in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The military has been issuing threats for days about a broader invasion, without much change visible on the ground. Israeli officials have said that the new campaign would be carried out gradually, in stages, and could be stopped should a deal be reached with Hamas.

The Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Sunday that the idea was to dissect Gaza into separate areas. He said that the population would be told to evacuate areas where the military was operating, and that the military was being intentionally ambiguous about its movements to protect its forces.

More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in the war, according to health officials in the enclave, whose death tolls do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The Health Ministry in Gaza said Sunday that the preliminary number of those killed since dawn stood at more than 90.

Suzanne Abu Daqqa, who lives in Abasan, near the southern city of Khan Younis, said residents had been living through near-constant bombardment over the past few days that had rattled her home with terrifying blasts.

But she said she was even more afraid that a renewed ground invasion could again force her to flee her house – where her family still had some electricity from solar panels, as well as a modest stockpile of rice and flour – for sweltering tent camps near the coast.

“So many have died for nothing,” Abu Daqqa said. “People want the war to end by all means.”

International efforts have so far failed to broker an end to the war that began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That attack killed about 1,200 people, and the Palestinian assailants took about 250 hostages back to Gaza.

At least 21 living hostages are still being held, according to the Israeli government, along with the remains of more than 30 others who have died in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled for the first time Sunday that his negotiating team in Qatar was authorized to discuss terms for a broad deal that could end the war in Gaza.

Previously, the Israeli prime minister’s office had said that the negotiations would be limited to discussing an initial deal in which Hamas would release about 10 of the living hostages and the two sides would enter a ceasefire lasting about six weeks.

But even as he spoke Sunday of the possibility of a broader deal, Netanyahu reiterated his firm conditions for ending the war: the release of all the hostages, the expulsion from Gaza of Hamas leaders and fighters and the demilitarization of the Palestinian coastal enclave.

Hamas has steadfastly rejected the idea of disarming.

Omer Dostri, a spokesperson for Netanyahu, said his statement represented “nothing new and no drama” since Hamas was not ready at this point to surrender.

A Hamas official said over the weekend that Israel had withdrawn its insistence that truce talks be based on the earlier proposal for an initial deal and that everything was now up for negotiation.

It was not clear if Netanyahu’s statement was meant to lay the ground for an unexpected diplomatic move or was chiefly aimed at deflecting domestic criticism that he had not done enough to bring back the hostages.

Analysts noted that Netanyahu and Hamas also faced pressure from the Trump administration, and that Israel’s military pressure on Hamas might be working.

Kobi Michael, an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said all of the above could be true at the same time.

“A significant military dynamic has been created,” Michael said, adding that the killing of many Hamas operatives had brought the group back to the negotiating table.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.