IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir approved earlier today (Sunday) at Southern Command the continuation of the IDF’s plans to capture Gaza City. According to security establishment estimates, the operation in the Strip will last at least the next four months, as reported by Kan News.
The first mission will be to evacuate approximately one million civilians from Gaza City. To this end, the IDF is preparing to bring in all regular brigades. According to the report by Yossi Yehoshua in Ynet, this means more than 100,000 reservists will be mobilized to complete the required IDF force structure. Currently, about 74,000 reservists are already in place, so tens of thousands more will need to be called up.
Capture of Gaza – Step by Step:
- Israel will build humanitarian compounds in the Strip with infrastructure such as tents, food, water, and medical command posts in the southern Gaza Strip.
- Within about two weeks, the IDF will begin evacuating Gaza residents from the city.
- At the start of the operation, the IDF will encircle Gaza City while continuing to evacuate civilians.
- The next stage will be the intensive phase, during which the IDF will capture Gaza City. The plan will advance slowly and gradually, while the Air Force simultaneously maneuvers and strikes inside Gaza City.
Earlier today we reported that due to the “increasing strikes and siege on Gaza City,” Palestinian terror groups are considering a plan to transfer hostages into Gaza City in order to pressure Israel and tie their fate to the government’s decision on capturing the Strip. This was reported by the Saudi-owned London newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing Hamas sources.
According to those sources, since the beginning of the war, the terror organizations have “safeguarded the hostages’ lives” as much as possible in order to release them in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a halt to the war. However, due to recent developments, a new decision may be taken that would send a clear message that the lives and property of Palestinians are tied to the hostages’ fate, according to these sources.
One source explained to the paper: “We cannot sit idly by in the face of these continued Israeli crimes against our people and the attempt to expel them once again from their homes, in order to seize Gaza City and the north, and to impose a new reality on their future.”
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited the Gaza Strip and said: “Soon we will move to the next stage of Operation Gideon’s Chariots, during which we will continue to deepen the blows against Hamas in Gaza City until its defeat.”
He added that the operation “met its objectives, Hamas no longer holds the same capabilities it had before the campaign, and we have struck it hard. The IDF has a moral duty to bring the hostages home, both the living and the fallen.”
