Israel's military chief says expansion of Gaza offensive imminent

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Israel is moving closer to intensifying its war against Hamas in Gaza City, military chief Eyal Zamir said during a visit to troops in the Gaza Strip.

The plan for an expanded offensive, which was approved Israel's Security Cabinet earlier this month, foresees the capture of Gaza City and central refugee camps in order to dismantle remaining Hamas strongholds in the war-shattered Palestinian territory.

The aim is to possibly take control of the entire Gaza Strip, and could require relocating roughly 1 million Palestinians currently in Gaza City to other parts of the territory.

"Soon we will move on to the next phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots, in which we will continue to enhance the strikes against Hamas in Gaza City until its decisive defeat," the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said, using Israel's codename for a ground offensive launched in early May.

"The IDF will deploy all its capabilities, on land, in the air, and at sea, in order to strike Hamas decisively," Zamir said in an IDF post on Telegram.

Zamir, who the IDF said made the comments during a field tour on Sunday in Gaza, said the military had already achieved many of its objectives in earlier operations: "Hamas no longer possesses the same capabilities it had before the operation; we dealt a severe blow."

He added that the military now "bears the moral duty to bring the hostages home, both alive and fallen."

During the Islamist Hamas-led massacres on October 7, 2023, militants seized some 250 hostages. Of the roughly 50 hostages still in Gaza, about 20 are believed to be alive.