By:  Fern Sidman

As Israel enters what military leaders describe as the decisive stage of the war against Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have begun one of the largest force mobilizations in recent memory. According to a report that appeared on Thursday on the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) website, the call-up of 60,000 reservists and the initiation of combat operations on the outskirts of Gaza City signal that the campaign is now shifting toward dismantling Hamas’s last entrenched stronghold.

IDF International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters that the coming stage would not be a dramatic overnight push but a gradual, precise, and deliberate ground maneuver. The aim is twofold: to eliminate Hamas’s governing and military capacities while simultaneously ensuring that Gaza’s remaining civilian population can evacuate to safety.

“Our troops are already operating, as we are speaking, in Zeitoun and Shejaiya, on the outskirts of Gaza City,” Shoshani explained. “Warnings to civilian populations have already been issued. This is a gradual, carefully planned operation against Hamas terrorists.”

According to the information provided in the JNS report, this deliberate pace reflects both military necessity and humanitarian caution. Gaza City is described by Israeli officials as Hamas’s last “center of gravity”—a nexus of command centers, arsenals, and an intricate tunnel network that remains critical to the terror group’s survival.

“There are places within Gaza City where we haven’t operated at all,” Shoshani said. “Hamas terrorists are using these areas as operational hubs, some staying from the beginning of the war and others who moved back in during the ceasefire to rebuild, rearm, and once again threaten our civilians.”

As the IDF prepares its final push, Hamas attempted to stall the operation by floating a so-called ‘comprehensive deal.’ According to the information contained in the JNS report, the terror group’s demands once again included a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza—a condition Israel has flatly rejected.

Defense Minister Israel Katz dismissed the gambit as a ploy: “Hamas will soon have to choose between two options: accepting Israel’s conditions for ending the war—led by the release of all hostages and Hamas disarming—or Gaza City will turn into a twin of Rafah and Beit Hanoun, where Hamas’s capabilities have already been dismantled.”

This blunt assessment reflects Israel’s position since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched its massacre into southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and abducting more than 250. As JNS has consistently reported, Israel’s mission remains unchanged: bring home all the hostages and ensure Hamas can never again carry out such atrocities.

Lt. Col. Shoshani underscored that the IDF’s mission is not only about degrading Hamas’s arsenal but about rescuing innocent lives: “Our mission is to bring our hostages home, every single one of them, and to defeat Hamas, to dismantle its governing and military capabilities. To make sure they can never conduct another October 7.”

The presence of hostages in Gaza City’s underground tunnel networks further complicates the military operation, requiring meticulous intelligence, special-forces coordination, and surgical strikes. JNS has reported extensively on the enormous intelligence-gathering efforts underway, including signals intelligence and interrogation of captured militants, to map the subterranean labyrinth where both Hamas leaders and captives are believed to be hidden.

Parallel to the military buildup is a massive humanitarian effort, designed both to alleviate civilian suffering and to counter Hamas’s strategy of using Gaza’s residents as human shields.

According to figures cited in the JNS report, Israel is facilitating an average of 300 aid trucks per day into Gaza—well above the baseline humanitarian requirement. Infrastructure repairs are underway, including reconnecting power to desalination plants capable of providing water to nearly a million Gazans. The IDF has also coordinated the delivery of tens of thousands of tents and the establishment of two new food distribution centers in southern Gaza, bringing the total to five.

Shoshani stressed: “Our humanitarian efforts go hand in hand with our operational efforts.”

Yet Hamas has been working to sabotage these measures. The group has reportedly deployed fighters to physically block civilians from leaving Gaza City, threatening them with violence if they attempt to move south. “They want to use them as human shields,” Shoshani said.

Recent footage cited in the JNS report showed Hamas operatives beating merchants in Khan Yunis for refusing to use cash transactions, a clear display of the group’s attempt to reassert coercive control over the population.

The mobilization of 60,000 reservists—the largest call-up since the early days of the war—marks a decisive moment. Shoshani confirmed that reservists have already begun reporting for duty, joining combat brigades, logistics units, and intelligence teams in preparation for the Gaza City operation.

As the JNS report noted, the IDF is also conducting multi-front operations beyond Gaza. Only days earlier, Israel executed a strike on a Houthi leadership meeting in Yemen, more than 1,500 kilometers away, which Shoshani described as “one of the most complex operations in our history.” This strike highlighted Israel’s expanded doctrine of simultaneously targeting Iran’s proxy network—Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and others—while prosecuting the war in Gaza.

The IDF’s central aim in Gaza City is to eradicate Hamas’s military and governing apparatus. Intelligence assessments confirm that the city still harbors Hamas’s most substantial tunnel complexes, including command centers for the group’s top leadership.

Destroying these networks, while difficult, is essential. As one IDF officer told JNS, “If our troops weren’t in Gaza, Hamas’s RPGs, IEDs, and mortars would be aimed at Israeli civilians.”

This is why Israel has committed to a full dismantling of Hamas’s presence in Gaza City, no matter how long it takes or how intense the fighting becomes.

For Israel, the Gaza City battle is not simply the next tactical step but a strategic endgame. As the JNS report explained, Israel’s war doctrine has shifted: where once the IDF sought short, decisive wars, the campaign since October 2023 has demonstrated that Israel can sustain long, attritional conflicts.

Despite the immense pressures—domestic, diplomatic, and military—the home front remains resilient, the economy is functioning, and international support, particularly from the United States, has remained firm. Hamas, by contrast, has seen its strongholds in Rafah, Beit Hanoun, Khan Yunis, and Jabaliya dismantled, leaving Gaza City as its final bastion.

As the IDF finalizes its preparations for Gaza City, Israeli leaders are making clear that there is no alternative to Hamas’s defeat. Defense Minister Katz has already drawn parallels between Gaza City’s coming fate and that of Rafah and Beit Hanoun, areas where Hamas has been systematically dismantled.

The stakes are high. For Israel, this operation is about more than battlefield victory; it is about securing the return of its hostages, deterring future aggression, and demonstrating to the region that the Jewish state cannot be defeated by terror.T

The coming operation represents both a military and moral test. The IDF must fight with precision and resolve against a terrorist enemy deeply embedded among civilians, while ensuring the protection of innocents and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The mobilization of 60,000 reservists, the humanitarian surge, and the steady advance into Gaza City together reflect a strategy that is deliberate, determined, and uncompromising. For Hamas, the choice is stark: surrender its arms and release the hostages—or face annihilation in what may become the most consequential battle of this war.