Israel draws up new war plans to pressure Hamas
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff have threatened a return to war in the Gaza Strip if Hamas doesn’t release its remaining hostages. Israel is already plotting out how that would happen.
Israel has drafted plans for a series of escalatory steps to gradually ratchet up pressure on Hamas now that talks to extend a seven-week cease-fire have stalled, plans that could lead to a resumption of hostilities in the 16-month war in the Gaza Strip. The steps kicked off in the past week with Israel blocking the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza. The next moves would include cutting off electricity and water, said Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s powerful finance minister, who said the measures were discussed in a cabinet meeting last weekend.
If those steps fail, Israel could turn to a campaign of airstrikes and tactical raids against Hamas targets, an Israeli security analyst briefed on the plan said. Next, Israel could again displace the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have used the cease-fire to return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, the analyst said. Ultimately, Israel could re-invade Gaza with far more military power than it has deployed so far in the conflict, with an eye to holding ground and effectively occupying territory while it attacks the remnants of Hamas, people familiar with the plan said.
Many in Israel feel another invasion of Gaza can’t be avoided. “There’s a determination to go back in and finish Hamas no matter what happens," said former Pentagon official Michael Makovsky, who is now president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a think tank based in Washington. “I think Israel will go in tougher and
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