Israel to call up 60,000 reservists to occupy Gaza City

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has approved the military plan to take Gaza City and authorized the mobilization of some 60,000 reservists to participate in the operation, he announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The minister also approved "the issuance of mobilization orders for the reservists needed to carry out the mission," totaling approximately 60,000 men. He also authorized "humanitarian preparations for the evacuation" of the population of that town, the largest in the northern Palestinian territory ravaged by the war.

In early August, Israel announced it was preparing to take control of Gaza City and neighboring refugee camps with the stated goal of defeating Hamas and freeing the hostages taken during the Palestinian Islamist movement's October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late last week that he had adopted the new plan, approved by his security cabinet, for this new phase of operations in the Gaza Strip.

The latest truce proposal comes as Netanyahu faces increasing pressure both at home and abroad. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on social media that his group had “widely opened the door to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will close it again, as he has done in the past.” Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that the situation was “very dangerous and unbearable” in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighborhoods of Gaza City, where, he said, “the bombardments continue intermittently.”