The Israeli army, led by Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, is facing a “new issue regarding the nature of the forces” that will participate in its expanded operations to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, a Hebrew newspaper reported on Saturday.
On 8 August, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan put forward by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gradually reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City.
On the 11th of the same month, as part of the implementation of the plan, the Israeli army began a large-scale attack on the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, which included blowing up houses using booby-trapped robots, artillery shelling, indiscriminate shooting and forced displacement, according to eyewitnesses to Anatolia.
As the occupation operations have already begun, the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported on Saturday evening that Zamir “faces an issue regarding the recruitment of reserve forces or continued reliance on regular forces only”.
“If it is decided to rely on regular forces and recruit the minimum number of reservists, it may be possible to start the military operation in Gaza more quickly, but it will take longer,” the newspaper said.
It added: “If it is decided to mobilise reservists, the military operation will have to be postponed for at least several weeks to train them and increase the readiness of their equipment.”
The newspaper indicated that Zamir will hold a crucial meeting at the Southern Command headquarters in Beersheba on Sunday to discuss plans for the expanded military operation to occupy Gaza, without further details.
The official Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation reported last Sunday that the Israeli army will push “all its regular forces into Gaza while the other fronts will be assigned to the reserve forces.” The official Hebrew Broadcasting Corporation reported last Sunday that the Israeli army will push “all its regular forces into Gaza while the other fronts will be assigned to the reserve forces.
However, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Thursday that the Israeli army intends to call up between 80,000 and 100,000 reservists to take part in its potential operation to occupy Gaza City.
On Friday, the broadcaster said that the Israeli army is preparing to accelerate the “military operation” aimed at occupying Gaza City, and on the same day, the army announced the start of the work of the “99th Division” in recent days in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City, as part of the plan to occupy the rest of the Gaza Strip, starting with this city.
Early last month, the Israeli army announced that five military divisions – 89, 99, 162, 36 and 143 – continue to carry out ground operations and intensive air attacks in various parts of the Gaza Strip, before announcing at the end of the same month that the 98th division had been withdrawn, without citing reasons.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel, with US support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to stop it.
The Israeli genocide has left 61,897 Palestinians dead, 155,660 injured, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that claimed the lives of 251 people, including 108 children.
Anatolia