Israel has called up 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned Gaza City offensive despite mounting international humanitarian warnings.
Israel has announced the call-up of about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy Gaza City, despite mounting international warnings of a devastating humanitarian impact.
A military official said the reservists would report for duty in September, though most of the troops mobilised for the operation would be active-duty personnel. The official added that forces were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas as part of the preparations for the plan, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and will be put before the security cabinet later this week.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the call-up was part of “the next phase of Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, the offensive launched in May. Another 20,000 reservists already deployed would see their current orders extended, it said.
The official explained that senior commanders had approved a “gradual” and “precise” operation in and around Gaza City, which would involve five divisions. The chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, is expected to finalise the plan in the coming days.
Haaretz quoted Defence Minister Katz as saying: “Once the operation is completed, Gaza will change its face and will no longer look as it did in the past.” He reportedly also approved measures to “accommodate” Gaza City residents in the south of the territory, including al-Mawasi, where the IDF has begun setting up additional food distribution points and field hospitals.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objectives are to secure the release of all hostages still held in Gaza and to “complete the defeat” of Hamas. Israeli officials stressed this week that they would no longer accept a partial hostage deal, after ceasefire negotiations broke down last month. Regional mediators have proposed a 60-day truce and the release of about half of the 50 remaining hostages, a deal Hamas said it accepted on Monday. Israel has yet to formally respond. Only 20 of the hostages are believed to be alive.
Meanwhile, the IDF said on Wednesday that the Givati Brigade had resumed operations in Jabalia and the outskirts of Gaza City, where it was “dismantling military infrastructures above and below ground, eliminating terrorists, and consolidating operational control”. Civilians were being told to move south for their safety “to mitigate the risk of harm”.
But Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency warned the situation was “very dangerous and unbearable”. Spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that “shelling continues intermittently” in Zeitoun and Sabra, while Wafa news agency reported that five people, including three children, were killed when their house in Shati refugee camp was bombed. The agency said 21 people were killed across Gaza on Wednesday.
UN agencies and NGOs condemned the planned offensive in a joint statement, warning: “The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza City will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival. Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer.”
They cautioned that southern Gaza is already “overcrowded and ill-equipped to sustain human survival at scale”, with hospitals “operating at several times their capacity”.
The war began after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage. Since then, at least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. More than 90% of homes are estimated to have been damaged or destroyed, health and sanitation systems have collapsed, and UN-backed experts say famine is already unfolding.
