Netanyah gathers the security cabinet today for expanding war in Gaza

Netanyahu will gather the security cabinet after a three-hour meeting this week with the army chief, whom Israeli officials described as tense, saying the army chief had rejected expanding the military campaign.

Polls show that most Israelis want the war to end with an agreement that would lead to the release of remaining hostages in Gaza.

Netanyah's government insists on full victory over Hamas ʹ the Palestinian militant group declared terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

The goal of Israeli forces entering areas that do not yet control in the destroyed Palestinian enclave has caused concern in Israel.

The Association of Hostages Forum, representing relatives of the kidnappings held in Gaza, urged Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to oppose the expansion of the war and urged the Government to accept an agreement that would end the war and ensure the release of remaining hostages.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stressed on Wednesday that the army would implement government decisions until the achievement of all war goals.

Israeli leaders have long demanded that Hamas be disarmed and no longer have any role in a deilitarised Gaza and that the hostages be released.

The UN has called reports of a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza as “extremely disturbing”, reports REL, broadcast Periscope.

The Israeli army says it controls about 75 percent of Gaza. The majority of the population of about 2 million has shifted several times over the past 22 months, and humanitarian organisations warn that residents are on the verge of extreme hunger.

About 200 Palestinians have died of hunger since the beginning of the war, nearly half of them children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Netanyah faces strong international pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement, but also faces domestic pressure from his coalition to continue the war.

Several far-right allies in his government have demanded that Gaza be fully conquered and Israel restore Jewish settlements there two decades after the withdrawal.

The far-right Minister of Finance, Bezale Smotrich, told reporters Wednesday that he hopes the Government will approve taking control of the rest of Gaza by the army.

The war began when Hamas - led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack and took 251 others hostage.

Most hostages have been released through ceasefires or other agreements. Of the approximately 50 still remaining in Gaza, it is believed that about 20 are still alive.

Israel's revenge war has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not specify how many of them were warriors or civilians, but says about half were women and children. /Periscope/