Gaza takeover plan said set to last 4-5 months, focus on Gaza City, Strip’s center

Israel was expected Thursday to approve a phased plan to take over vast new areas of the Gaza Strip, potentially over five months, newly displacing around a million Palestinians and despite warnings from top military officials that this would endanger the lives of hostages being held in those areas, according to various Hebrew media reports Wednesday.

The plan is reportedly aimed at destroying what remains of the Hamas terror group and pressuring it to free the 50 hostages it is still holding, around 20 of them alive, after recent talks for a deal broke down. It would begin with taking over Gaza City, in the north of the Strip, and camps in the central Strip, driving around half of the enclave’s population southward toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone.