IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Tuesday that the offensive to conquer Gaza City is underway as tens of thousands of Israeli reservists began to report for duty to take part in the major escalation of Israel’s genocidal war.
“We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you,” Zamir told recently mobilized Israeli reservists at the Nachshonim military base in central Israel. “We have already begun the ground operation in Gaza [City].”
Zamir also vowed that the war would continue until Hamas is totally defeated, comments he made despite reports that said he has been pushing for the Israeli government to agree to a temporary ceasefire deal that has already been approved by Hamas. “We will not stop the war until we defeat this enemy,” he said.
Haaretz reported that about 350 Israeli reservists signed a statement that said they opposed the Israeli government’s decision to take over Gaza City and wouldn’t report for duty. “The decision to launch a military operation for the complete occupation of Gaza City is blatantly illegal and will put hostages, soldiers and civilians at risk,” said Ron Feiner, a reservist and member of the organization Soldiers for the Hostages. “If we are called up for reserve duty, we will not report.”
Israel’s offensive on Gaza City, which has turned the Zeitoun neighborhood into rubble in just a few weeks, is being conducted amid famine in the city, which has been officially declared by UN and US-backed hunger monitors. Israel’s plans involve forcibly displacing more than 1 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza City, then razing the entire city to the ground, which the IDF says can take over a year.
There has been no mass exodus of Palestinian civilians from Gaza City since they don’t think there’s anywhere safe to go as the IDF continues to bomb central and southern Gaza, and another displacement for malnourished or sick people could be a death sentence. Another reason why Palestinians may not want to leave is the fact that they don’t think Israel will ever allow them to return, as Israeli officials have been clear that their ultimate goal is ethnic cleansing.
