Netanyahu meets with security officials amid reports Israel's considering full takeover of Gaza
Despite intense international pressure for a ceasefire to ease hunger and appalling conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave, efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have collapsed.
Eight more people died of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said, while another 79 died in the latest Israeli firing.
Israel disputes these figures but does not release its own to counter them.
The prime minister's office said in a statement that Mr Netanyahu had held a "limited security discussion" lasting about three hours during which military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir "presented the options for continuing the campaign in Gaza".
An Israeli official had earlier told Reuters that Defence Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu, would also attend the meeting to decide on a strategy to take to a Cabinet meeting expected to take place on Thursday.
Israel's Channel 12, citing an official from Mr Netanyahu's office, had said the prime minister was leaning towards taking control of the entire territory.
Such a move would reverse a 2005 decision to withdraw from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, a move right-wing parties blame for Hamas gaining power there.
It was unclear, however, whether Mr Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged occupation or a short-term operation aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages.
The prime minister's office declined to comment on the Channel 12 report.
"It is still necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, release our hostages and ensure that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel," Mr Netanyahu told new recruits at a military base.
"We are not giving up on any of these missions."
On Saturday, Hamas released a video of Evyatar David, one of 50 hostages still held in Gaza, appearing emaciated in what seemed to be an underground tunnel.
The images shocked Israelis and sparked international condemnation.
Throughout the war, there has been sustained international pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, of whom Israeli officials estimate 20 are still alive.
Most hostages have been released during ceasefires following diplomatic negotiations. Israel broke the last ceasefire.
A Palestinian official told news agency Reuters the suggestion of a full takeover of Gaza may be a tactic to pressure Hamas into concessions, while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged foreign nations to take heed of the reports.
"The ministry urges countries and the international community to treat these leaks with utmost seriousness and to intervene urgently to prevent their implementation, whether these leaks are meant to exert pressure, test international reactions, or are genuine and serious," the offical said.
Israel's coalition government, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank and encourage Palestinians to leave their homeland.
Nearly two years of fighting in Gaza has strained the military, which has a small standing army and has had to repeatedly mobilise reservists.
It has throughout the war pushed back against the idea of Israel fully occupying Gaza.
In a sign of differences between some members of Israel's ruling coalition and the military, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X challenged military head Mr Zamir to state he would comply with government directives even if a decision was made to take all of Gaza.
The statement from Mr Netanyahu's office said the Israeli Defence Forces were "prepared to implement any decision that will be made by the Political-Security Cabinet".
The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing 251 hostages.
Israel's military response has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, killing more than 61,000 people — mostly civilians — according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel's campaign has forced nearly all of Gaza's more than two million people from their homes and caused what a global hunger monitor called last week an unfolding famine.
Some 188 Palestinians, including 94 children, have died from hunger since the war began, according to Gaza authorities.
An Israeli security official, in a briefing to reporters, acknowledged there may be hunger in some parts of Gaza but rejected reports of famine or starvation.
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks pushed into central Gaza but it was not clear if the move was part of a larger ground offensive.
Reuters
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Of the 38 Palestinians killed while seeking aid, at least 28 died in the Morag Corridor, an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN convoys have been repeatedly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds in recent days, and where witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots as Palestinians advanced toward them, and that it was not aware of any casualties. Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, said another four people were killed in the Teina area, on a route leading to a site in southern Gaza run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor. The Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of six people killed near a GHF site in central Gaza. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites. Two of the Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza City, in the north of the territory, killing 13 people there, including six children and five women, according to the Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because its militants are entrenched in heavily populated areas. UN experts say Israeli-backed aid group should be dismantled. Israel facilitated the establishment of four GHF sites in May after blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other goods for 2.5 months. Israeli and US officials said a new system was needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off humanitarian aid. The United Nations, which has delivered aid to hundreds of distribution points across Gaza throughout the war when conditions allow, has rejected the new system, saying it forces Palestinians to travel long distances and risk their lives for food, and that it allows Israel to control who gets aid, potentially using it to advance plans for further mass displacement. The UN human rights office said last week that some 1400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since May, mostly near GHF sites but also along UN convoy routes where trucks have been overwhelmed by crowds. It says nearly all were killed by Israeli fire. This week, a group of UN special rapporteurs and independent human rights experts called for the GHF to be disbanded, saying it is "an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law".
