On Aug. 20, 2025, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the IDF's plan to take over Gaza City, marking another major step in Israel's renewed military campaign. The Jerusalem Post said the plan had been presented by IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the senior command team, and that Katz named the operation "Gideon's Chariots II."
The approval was not simply a paper exercise. According to the report, the military is preparing to send about 50,000 call-up orders to reservists in addition to those already serving. That scale of mobilization signals that the operation is being treated as a substantial undertaking rather than a limited raid, with manpower, logistics and deployment all being arranged around the city.
The same meeting also approved preparations to evacuate civilians from Gaza City to the south of the Strip, a move the military says is intended to isolate Hamas fighters. That decision places the civilian dimension at the heart of the operation. Once evacuation planning becomes part of the military order, the campaign is no longer only about defeating an armed group; it also becomes about moving a population through a war zone.
The report said the approval came as Israel continued to review an Egyptian-led proposal backed by Hamas that would release 10 hostages in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire. Israeli officials signaled that because the proposal does not include the release of all hostages, the government is unlikely to respond positively or enter negotiations on it. That means the military plan and the diplomatic track are now moving in parallel, but not in harmony.
Hostage families immediately responded with alarm. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded an urgent meeting with Katz and Zamir, asking them to explain how the operation would avoid killing more hostages. Their reaction underscores the political cost of expanding the war while Israelis remain focused on the fate of captives still held in Gaza.
What emerges from the report is a government preparing to press ahead unless a broader framework appears that includes all hostages and an end to the war on Israel's terms. The operation name, the reservist call-up and the civilian evacuation planning all point in the same direction: a decision to turn the assault on Gaza City into a central phase of the conflict rather than a side campaign.
The hostage angle explains why this approval is politically explosive inside Israel. Families want a deal that brings captives home, while the government is choosing to move ahead with a plan that assumes military pressure is still the better bargaining tool. Those two positions can coexist only uneasily. If the operation proceeds, every setback will be measured not just in battlefield terms but in the fate of the people still held in Gaza. That is why the reservist call-up and the evacuation plan matter together. They show that Israel is preparing for a longer, heavier phase of the war, not merely a symbolic push.
The coming weeks will show whether the plan stays on paper or becomes the next chapter in the war. For now, the approval itself is enough to show that Israel is preparing for a much larger operational commitment around Gaza City.
