offensive about Gaza City can take weeks to start

But the plans presented in the Security Office on Thursday may take about five months to complete, according to the two sources present at the meeting.

Netanyahu’s lines about the city of Gaza was the last bastion whose fall would accelerate Hamas’s defeat echoed the statements before another offensive in southern Gaza over a year ago.

In April 2024, during a previous round of failed ceasefire negotiations, Netanyahu promised to continue a long-promised attack on Rafah, which would reach the “total victory” after facing the last remaining brigade of Hamas at the site.

Israel attacked Rafah in May 2024, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the area. Group leader and mentor of the 2023 attack that triggered the war, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by Israeli forces at the scene about five months later.

Even with his leading leaders dead and fighter long reduced to a guerrillas spread between the ruins of Gaza, Netanyahu faces skepticism in relation to the new plan – the enlightening of his military chief, who called him deadly trap – and any hope that he will soon end the war.

“This measure is a danger to Israel and its security, and is useless,” said Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid. “The hostages will die, the soldiers will die, the economy will collapse and Israel’s international position will crumble.”