Israel: Gaza conquest plan: Netanyahu to speak at a press conference at 3:30 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to speak on Sunday about his plan to conquer Gaza City, which is contested by both his far-right allies and the families of the hostages, before an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Palestinian territory.

After 22 months of war, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing intense pressure, both in Israel over the fate of the 49 hostages still held by Hamas, and abroad to silence the guns in the devastated Gaza Strip, where more than two million Palestinians are threatened with "general famine," according to the UN.

He will hold a press conference in Jerusalem at 4:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. in France), his services indicated. On the ground, the Gaza Civil Defense reported 27 people killed by the Israeli army since the beginning of the day, including 11 by gunfire while they were waiting for food distributions near centers of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF, supported by the United States and Israel), in the north and center of the territory.

Hostage families concerned

According to the plan approved by the Israeli security cabinet on Friday, after almost a night of discussions, the army "is preparing to take control of Gaza City ," which has been largely destroyed in the north of the territory, "while distributing humanitarian aid" outside the combat zones.

The announcement has shocked families of hostages kidnapped during Hamas's bloody attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, who see it as a death sentence for their loved ones. Hamas has warned that the new offensive would result in their "sacrifice." On Saturday evening, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv again , demanding an agreement ensuring the return of all hostages—including 27 declared dead by the army—in exchange for an end to hostilities in the Palestinian territory.

At the same time, the far-right, a stakeholder in the governing coalition, expressed its disagreement. "The prime minister and the cabinet have surrendered to the weak," lashed out Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. "They have decided once again to repeat the same approach, launching a military operation that does not aim for a decisive resolution but simply to pressure Hamas to reach a partial agreement on the hostages," he accused.

A "catastrophe" for the opposition leader

"I want all of Gaza, the transfer (of its population, editor's note) and colonization," added National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far-right figure within the coalition. Israel does not intend to ultimately "keep" the Gaza Strip, but to "hand over to Arab forces who will govern there," Benjamin Netanyahu said on Fox News on Thursday.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid insists that his plan is a "catastrophe." "They will mobilize 430,000 reservists at the last minute (...) They are dismantling the country from within," he repeated Sunday. "The cabinet has decided the fate of the hostages: the living will be murdered and the dead will disappear forever," accused Einav Zangauker, mother of one of them, and a leading figure in the families' mobilization. Relatives of hostages have called for a general strike for next Sunday.

A plan planned for October

The media are currently pondering the implications of an offensive in Gaza City, one of the most densely populated areas of the Palestinian territory, which they say remains a Hamas military stronghold. Speaking on Army Radio, military affairs specialist Doron Kadosh estimates that "the entry of forces into the city center" will take place in October, after the necessary evacuation of residents. "It will take another two to three months to complete the takeover of the city," he predicts.

"The plan may not begin until October," echoes Yedioth Ahronoth, for whom Benjamin Netanyahu has "left himself several exit points (...) if an agreement on the hostages is reached." Until then, "the ball is in the court of the mediators," whose new attempt at a settlement failed in July, underlines the newspaper Ma'ariv .