Anti-government protests have erupted in Israel, just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved plans to seize all of Gaza.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, calling for a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the hostages still being held in Gaza.
Israel’s cabinet approved plans to capture the entire Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition.
“There’s no reason to continue on with this war. What we did for one-and-a-half years, last one-and-a-half years and we couldn’t succeed, we won’t be able to do it now,” said Miri Wolf, one of the protesters.
“They (the Israeli government) just want to hold the strip of Gaza and make a new settlement there. They will stay there, soldiers will be killed, and the hostages will come back in black sacks. That’s what will happen,” she added.
The new plan, which officials said was meant to help Israel achieve its war aims of defeating Hamas and freeing the hostages, also calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to southern Gaza.
That would likely amount to their forcible displacement and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group in mid-March, it has launched fresh strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds of people. It has captured swaths of territory and now controls roughly 50% of the coastal enclave.
Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 59, of whom 24 are believed to be alive.
A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed 52,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli military says 850 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war.