Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel must “complete” the defeat of Hamas in Gaza to secure the release of the remaining hostages, days ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss an updated war plan.

Israeli media have said the premier is considering ordering the total occupation of Gaza, even as international pressure mounts for him to end the war, with a senior UN official warning Tuesday that expanding the fighting risked “catastrophic consequences,” including to the captives held by Hamas.

“It is necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, to free all our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said during a visit to an army training facility.

His office later said he had held a three-hour “security discussion” with army chief Eyal Zamir, but did not disclose any new war plans.

The premier’s office has said the security cabinet will convene later in the week to approve new instructions.

Public broadcaster Kan has reported that “Netanyahu wants the Israeli army to conquer the entire Gaza Strip”.

Citing cabinet members, it said Netanyahu had “decided to extend the fight to areas where hostages might be held”.

But some major media outlets such as Channel 12 have suggested that the rumoured expansion of operations might only be a negotiating tactic.

While the reported plan has not been approved, it has already drawn angry reactions from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza’s Hamas-run government.

Hamas insisted such a move would not shift its position in ceasefire talks, demanding the withdrawal of all forces from Gaza.

“The ball is in the hands of… (Israel) and the Americans,” senior Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP, adding that the militant group wanted to “end the war and the famine”.

UN assistant secretary-general Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Tuesday that a widening of the war “would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was also in New York attending a Security Council meeting on the plight of the hostages after recent footage of weak and emaciated captives sparked shock and outrage in Israel.

‘Agreement Must Be Reached’

Over the war’s 22 months, Israeli forces have devastated large parts of the Gaza Strip, where a humanitarian crisis has taken hold, with UN experts recently warning of an unfolding famine.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.

Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, 49 of whom remain held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,020 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Netanyahu has faced growing pressure on several fronts.

Domestically, families of hostages are demanding a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home.

And around the world, there are increasing calls for a truce to allow food into a starving Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday said it was “ready to bring in medicine, food and family news for the hostages in Gaza”, and to “scale up the delivery of life-saving aid safely to civilians”.

But “to do this, an agreement must be reached between Israel and Hamas”, it said.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners demand to keep fighting and reoccupy Gaza for the long haul, after Israel withdrew settlers and troops stationed there two decades ago.

– Aid ‘Exploited’

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza in early March, which it only began easing more than two months later to allow a US-backed private agency, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to open food distribution centres.

United Nations special rapporteurs called on Tuesday for the GHF to be immediately dismantled, saying aid was being “exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas”.

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said it would partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza to reduce its reliance on aid deliveries.

“A limited number of local merchants were approved by the defence establishment”, and would be allowed to bring in basic staples including fruit, vegetables, baby formula and hygiene products, COGAT said.

On the ground in Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 56 Palestinians who were waiting near aid distribution sites on Tuesday.

The Israeli military told AFP troops had “fired warning shots” in the direction “a gathering of Gazans advancing” towards them near one of those sites, in the territory’s south, but that it was “not aware of any casualties as a result”.

In northern Gaza, where the civil defence said 20 people were killed not far from an aid crossing, an AFP journalist saw bodies brought to Hamad Hospital.

The army told AFP it was looking into the report.

AFP