‘Full takeover’: Israel set to expand operations in Gaza

For the first time the IDF will operate in areas where hostages are being held, as hundreds of former security officials write to Donald Trump urging him to pressure Netanyahu to end the war.

Israel is planning to expand its military operation in Gaza, including - for the first time = areas where the remaining hostages are being held, in a reported “full takeover.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly told ministers that he will seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, despite reservations by the Israel Defence Forces.

Mr Netanyahu’s office told The Jerusalem Post that IDF chief Eyal Zamir, who opposes a full takeover of the Strip, had been advised: “If this does not suit you, then you should resign.” General Zamir has cancelled plans for a short trip to the US.

The Israel Defence Forces have previously avoided areas in Gazawhere hostages are thought to be held, in case they are killed by their militant captors or die in the crossfire.

However Mr Netanyahu The Times of Israel reports that Mr Netanyahu used the term “occupation of the Strip” in private conversations, while Ynet TV quoted an official close to the Prime Minister as saying: “The die is cast — we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip.”

The decision follows the publication of two videos of emaciated captives warning they were on the point of death, which shocked the country.

It comes as Foreign Minister Penny Wong reiterated her calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, warning: “There will be no Palestine left to recognise if the world does not act.”

Senator Wong also urged Mr Netanyahu to listen to the 600 former Israeli security officials who have written to US President Donald Trump urging him to convince Mr Netanyahu to end the war.

“It is our professional Judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the officials said. “Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering,” they wrote.

The Prime Minister is facing increasing pressure to return the remaining hostages in Gaza, as well as mounting international calls to address the dire food situation in the Gaza Strip.

💥Israeli Security Chiefs Through the Decades “End the war and bring the hostages home!” 🇮🇱🇮🇱

This is an extraordinary call, unlike anything we've seen in Israel. Almost everyone who was once at the wheel of a major security organization:

Nadav Argaman, Shin Bet Director
Tamir… pic.twitter.com/JCCgMD6XHj

— UnXeptable (@UnxeptableD) August 3, 2025

Separately from the letter to Mr Trump, 19 former intelligence and military chiefs and a former prime minister published a video calling for the war to end, and admitting: “We are on the precipice of defeat.”

In the video message, the former officials said that between them, they had “more than a thousand years’ experience in national security and diplomacy.”

“We have a duty to stand up and say what we need to say,” former Shin Bet director Ami Ayalon said. “This war started as a just war. It was a defensive war. But once we achieved all its military objectives, once we achieved a brilliant military victory against all our enemies, this war stopped being a just war. It is leading the State of Israel to the loss of its security and identity.”

Another ex-Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman said: “We are now mostly offsetting losses,” while former Mossad director Tamir Pardo admitted: “We are on the precipice of defeat.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said ahead of the UN session in New York that “the world must put an end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be front and centre on the world stage”.

Israel – backed by the United States and Panama – is preparing to convene a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to highlight the fate of the hostages.

At his weekly cabinet meeting, Mr Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s three war goals remain “the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, 49 are still held in the Palestinian territory, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

The UN session was called after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published last week three videos showing hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David appearing weak and emaciated.

Mr Netanyahu said he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide food and medical treatment to the Israeli captives.

Hamas’s armed wing said it was willing to allow access to the hostages in exchange for opening aid corridors into all of Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned famine was unfolding.

The ICRC said in a statement it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and reiterated its “call to be granted access to the hostages”.

Mr Netanyahu’s government has faced repeated accusations by relatives of hostages and other critics of not doing enough to rescue the captives.

“Netanyahu is leading Israel and the hostages to ruin,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.

“For 22 months, the public has been sold the illusion that military pressure and intense fighting will bring the hostages back.

“The truth must be said: expanding the war endangers the lives of the hostages, who are already in immediate mortal danger.”

AFP