Netanyahu wants to ‘occupy Gaza’, what do Israeli people, military think?

After 22 months of full-scale war, sidesplitting much than 60,000 Palestinians and forcing Gaza to the brink of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly preparing to defy international, home and subject sentiment by escalating the warfare connected Gaza inactive further and ordering its afloat occupation.

“The dice is formed – we are going for a afloat concern of the Gaza Strip,” Israeli media cited an anonymous official, supposedly quoting Netanyahu, arsenic saying.

Meeting with elder information officials connected Tuesday, Netanyahu was said to person travel retired successful enactment of the subject taking implicit power of Gaza, adjacent if it meant that the remaining Israeli captives determination mightiness beryllium harmed oregon killed.

The destiny of the captives taken during the Hamas-led onslaught connected confederate Israel connected October 7, 2023, has been a changeless taxable passim Israel’s warfare connected Gaza and rescuing them was 1 of the warfare aims Netanyahu claimed astatine its outset.

However, contempt the demolition of overmuch of Gaza and the displacement and starvation of overmuch of its population, galore captives stay and the territory wherever they are thought to present beryllium is extracurricular Israeli subject control.

“Netanyahu wants to proceed the war,” Ahron Bregman, a governmental idiosyncratic astatine King’s College London and erstwhile Israeli officer, said, echoing a wide disapproval of the premier minister.

“He wants time. He wants clip to support his conjugation and clip to resistance retired his corruption trial,” helium said of the transgression charges that have dogged Netanyahu since 2019.

Motivation

The circumstantial crushed for this latest imaginable violative remains unclear.  Some person suggested that speech of concern is simply a maneuver to bring Hamas backmost to the negotiating table.

The siege Israel imposed connected Gaza aft breaking the past ceasefire successful March has caused planetary outrage due to the fact that of the starvation it has caused. Others person suggested it whitethorn besides beryllium a genuine effort to eradicate Hamas and yet interruption immoderate tone remains successful Gaza’s colonisation and unit them into “concentration zone” camps.

“It could beryllium immoderate of them,” Israeli governmental expert Nimrod Flaschenberg said. “Netanyahu has proven successful the past that helium doesn’t attraction astir fashionable sentiment oregon wide protest, arsenic agelong arsenic his right-wing basal is happy.

“We saw that successful Rafah, which helium destroyed, and we saw that with Iran, which helium attacked. It doesn’t substance what astir radical think. He conscionable needs to support the basal connected broadside and interest astir elections later. This has been the strategy for overmuch of the past 2 years.”

The existent question is whether the service is susceptible of occupying each of Gaza, Flaschenberg added.

Palestinians facing immense difficulties accessing nutrient owed to the blockade imposed by Israel hold to person blistery meals successful Gaza connected August 5, 2025 [Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu]

“There’s immense fatigue wrong the military, extended PTSD [post-traumatic accent disorder] and monolithic numbers of some overt and grey [private] refusals,” helium said of what was estimated by the Israeli mag +972  successful April to beryllium a shortfall successful troops of much than 100,000.

“This is not realistic astatine all,” erstwhile US Special Forces commandant Colonel Seth Krummrich of planetary information steadfast Global Guardian said of Netanyahu’s plans to inhabit Gaza.

“To seizure and clasp terrain takes an tremendous fig of soldiers and resources. The Israeli colonisation is divided connected this issue, truthful determination are home headwinds that volition not enactment this level of mobilisation,” helium said of wide protests successful Israel calling for an extremity to the war.

Refuseniks

Irrespective of the politics, galore successful the Israeli service and information services person opposed Netanyahu’s and his right-wing allies’ plans to inhabit Gaza, arsenic good arsenic continuing with the warfare connected the enclave much generally.

Several elder Israeli subject officers, including Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, are understood to reason immoderate further escalation successful Gaza astatine all.

On Tuesday, much than 600 erstwhile Israeli elder information officials signed an unfastened missive calling connected US President Donald Trump to usage his power to assistance bring the warfare to a close.

“It is our nonrecreational judgement that Hamas nary longer poses a strategical menace to Israel,” the Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) radical said successful a station connected X, wherever it shared the unfastened missive to President Donald Trump

CIS describes itself arsenic “Israel’s largest radical of erstwhile [Israeli military] generals and Mossad, Shin Bet, Police, and Diplomatic Corps equivalents”.

“From the subject constituent of view, [Hamas] is wholly destroyed. On the different hand, arsenic an ideology, it is getting much and much powerfulness among the Palestinian people, wrong the Arab thoroughfare astir us, and besides successful the satellite of Islam,” Ami Ayolon, the erstwhile caput of Israel’s Shin Bet interior quality bureau and 1 of the letter’s signatories, told the BBC.

“The deficiency of enactment from the precocious echelons of the subject would besides beryllium vital,” Colonel Krummrich added. “The subject enactment has to ‘own’ this operation. If it fails, the subject enactment gets blamed. They person to person their soldiers that it is worthy the cost, particularly implicit the agelong word – perchance stretching into years,” helium said.

Photo taken during a controlled embed circuit with the Israeli service and subsequently edited nether subject supervision – The Israeli service is reported to beryllium exhausted and suffering captious shortages of reservists [File: Carlos Reyes/AFP]

Why would Netanyahu propulsion for the concern of Gaza?

Any further escalation successful Gaza is besides definite to beryllium unpopular with the public, which is already bushed of the endless war, analysts said.

Some polls amusement wide nationalist absorption successful Israel to the war, with vexation implicit Netanyahu’s repeated excuses for his government’s nonaccomplishment to scope a ceasefire deal, which could bring the remaining captives home, tangible.

Critically, successful May, a canvass for Israel’s Channel 12 showed that astir Israelis thought Netanyahu cared much astir clinging to powerfulness than helium did winning the war.

“When you look astatine the database of radical who’ve travel retired against this, including Zamir, it begs the question why,” Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham House said. “Are Hamas truly truthful large a menace that you’d sacrifice the hostages, sacrifice soldiers’ lives and sacrifice what’s near of the country’s reputation?” helium asked.

“He’s go wholly fractured from reality,” Professor Mekelberg said. “It’s madness. A half-decent quality being, no, a quarter-decent quality being, would person resigned agelong ago, but everything with Netanyahu is astir his governmental survival.”