Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended plans to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip on August 10, 2025, arguing that further action against Hamas was necessary despite growing international criticism, warnings about the humanitarian consequences and objections from families of Israeli hostages.
Speaking at a news conference for foreign media in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel intended to move against what he described as Hamas's remaining major strongholds, particularly Gaza City and the central camps. The announcement followed a decision by Israel's security cabinet instructing the military to prepare to take control of Gaza City.
The proposed operation raised immediate questions about the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living or sheltering in Gaza City, many of whom had already been displaced during earlier phases of the war. It also intensified an argument inside Israel over whether expanding the ground campaign would increase pressure on Hamas or instead place the remaining hostages and Israeli soldiers at greater risk.
What Israel's Security Cabinet Approved
Israel's security cabinet approved the Gaza City plan on August 8 as part of a broader set of principles for ending the war. According to the Israeli government's account, those principles included disarming Hamas, securing the release of all hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, maintaining Israeli security control and establishing a civilian administration that would be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
In his August 10 news conference, Netanyahu said Israel did not intend to permanently govern Gaza and argued that civilians would be directed away from combat areas before major operations began. He described military pressure as the fastest route to defeating Hamas and ending the war.
That characterization was disputed by critics of the plan. Hamas accused Netanyahu's government of using the military operation to pursue forced displacement, an allegation Israel rejected. International officials also questioned whether civilians could be moved safely on the scale envisioned, given widespread destruction and repeated displacement across the territory.
UN Security Council Convenes Emergency Meeting
The United Nations Security Council met in an emergency session on August 10 after Israel announced the Gaza City plan. According to the UN account of the meeting, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav JenÄa warned that implementing the plan could trigger another major escalation and further endanger both Palestinian civilians and the remaining hostages.
UN officials said Israeli planning contemplated moving Gaza City's civilian population south before an expanded military operation. JenÄa told the council that reports at the time indicated roughly 800,000 people could be affected by the evacuation plans.
Representatives of several Security Council members urged Israel to reverse course. Britain's representative argued that further military escalation would bring additional bloodshed rather than a political resolution. Other delegates called for increased humanitarian assistance, an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of the hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups.
The United States and Israel defended Israel's stated objective of dismantling Hamas's military capabilities. Israeli officials argued that Hamas remained responsible for prolonging the conflict by refusing to disarm and release the hostages. Hamas, for its part, had demanded an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal as part of negotiations over the remaining captives.
Hostage Families and Domestic Opposition
The plan also deepened divisions inside Israel. Families of hostages warned that a large new operation in densely populated areas could endanger captives believed to remain alive in Gaza. Protests calling for a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement took place in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.
At the time of Netanyahu's announcement, around 50 hostages remained in Gaza, with Israeli authorities believing approximately 20 were still alive. The captives were among roughly 250 people taken into Gaza during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people according to Israeli figures.
Netanyahu maintained that military pressure could create the conditions for releasing the hostages while also defeating Hamas. Critics, including some former Israeli security officials and hostage families, argued that continued fighting could produce the opposite result.
Pressure From Netanyahu's Coalition
Netanyahu simultaneously faced pressure from members of his governing coalition who believed the approved plan did not go far enough.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the government's approach and called for a more decisive military campaign against Hamas. Smotrich had advocated Israeli sovereignty over Gaza and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the territory, positions that were not presented as government policy in Netanyahu's August 10 briefing.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, another far-right coalition partner, supported a broader Israeli takeover of Gaza and had also advocated policies involving Palestinian emigration from the territory.
The dispute illustrated Netanyahu's competing political pressures: hostage families and other critics were demanding a negotiated agreement to end the fighting, while influential coalition partners were demanding a more extensive military campaign.
The Humanitarian Situation
The planned offensive came during an acute humanitarian crisis. By August 2025, Gaza's Health Ministry was reporting more than 60,000 Palestinian deaths since the beginning of the war. The ministry does not generally distinguish civilians from combatants in its overall death toll, while Israel has disputed aspects of Palestinian casualty reporting and says its forces target Hamas and other armed groups.
Food availability had also deteriorated sharply following months of restrictions, disrupted distribution networks, fighting and the destruction of infrastructure. Israel said large quantities of aid had entered Gaza and accused Hamas of diverting supplies, while UN agencies and humanitarian organizations repeatedly said the amount reaching civilians was insufficient and that insecurity and restrictions were obstructing distribution.
The severity of the food crisis became clearer shortly after Netanyahu's announcement. On August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported that famine conditions had been confirmed in Gaza Governorate for the period through August 15. The IPC said more than half a million people across the Gaza Strip were experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Israel challenged the famine assessment and its methodology.
Why Gaza City Mattered to the Military Plan
Netanyahu described Gaza City and the central camps as major remaining Hamas strongholds after nearly two years of Israeli operations elsewhere in the territory. His government argued that leaving those areas outside a broader campaign would allow Hamas to retain armed units and governing capacity.
But the language echoed earlier stages of the war. In early 2024, Netanyahu had also described Rafah in southern Gaza as a critical remaining Hamas stronghold before Israeli forces entered the area. The continuation of fighting afterward contributed to questions over what military conditions would ultimately constitute the defeat of Hamas and what political authority would govern Gaza after the war.
Netanyahu ruled out both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as the future governing authority in Gaza but did not identify a specific alternative administration. That unresolved question remained central to international debate over whether military operations could produce a sustainable postwar political arrangement.
What Happened Next
The August announcement was not merely rhetorical. Israel intensified attacks around Gaza City over the following weeks and ordered civilians to move south. By September 16, 2025, Israeli forces had begun the main phase of a ground offensive into Gaza City, according to Reuters, as the military said it was targeting Hamas infrastructure.
The operation caused additional displacement and international criticism while negotiations over the hostages and a ceasefire continued. The military campaign therefore became part of a broader struggle over three interconnected issues that had remained unresolved throughout much of the war: the release of the hostages, the future of Hamas and the political and security arrangements that would follow major combat.
Later developments also changed the humanitarian picture. An October 2025 ceasefire enabled a substantial increase in assistance. By July 2026, the IPC reported that large-scale aid since the ceasefire had improved food-security and nutrition conditions, although humanitarian needs remained severe and more than 1.2 million people were still assessed as facing Crisis-level food insecurity or worse during the April-to-June 2026 period.
Those later developments do not change the circumstances surrounding Netanyahu's August 2025 decision: at the time, his government was preparing a major expansion of operations in Gaza City while facing intense disputes over civilian protection, humanitarian access, the safety of the remaining hostages and the absence of an agreed postwar governing structure for the territory.
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