By: JNS Staff

The IDF operation in Gaza will intensify and Israeli forces will remain in every area they capture, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday in a direct video message.

Speaking in a Q&A video posted to his X account and translated from Hebrew by Ynet, Netanyahu said the decision followed a late-night Security Cabinet meeting and was based on a recommendation from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

“We decided on intensified action in Gaza,” the prime minister said. “That was the IDF chief of staff’s recommendation—to move, as he said, toward the defeat of Hamas. He believes this will also help us rescue the hostages. I agree with him.

“We are not letting up on this effort and will not give up on anyone,” Netanyahu continued.

He added that, unlike in past wars, the military would station reserve forces in territories seized during fighting. “There will be movement of the population in order to protect them,” he said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking earlier on Monday, said there will be no retreat from territory recaptured from Hamas in Gaza—not even as part of a hostage agreement.

“This is a dramatic decision: Once the operation begins, there will be no withdrawal from land we conquer—not for any deal,” Smotrich said at the B’Sheva Jerusalem Conference. “The only way to free the hostages is to defeat Hamas. Any retreat would only invite the next Oct. 7.”

The minister spoke after a decision overnight by Israel’s Security Cabinet to significantly expand the IDF’s ground operation in Gaza. A political source from the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that the move authorizes the seizure and retention of territory in the Strip and, if needed, limited distribution of aid in areas cleared of Hamas operatives.

The new IDF offensive to conquer the Gaza Strip has been codenamed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots.”

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar said the offensive marks a strategic shift.

“The goal is complete control of the Gaza Strip,” Zohar told Kan Reshet Bet radio. “This move does endanger the hostages—it doesn’t help them—but there is no other choice but to bring about a decisive outcome.”

Zohar said previous restraint was driven by a desire to maximize the return of hostages. Now, he added, “Hamas may soon realize it has no choice but to return the captives and remove itself from Gaza.”

Hebrew-language media outlets are widely disseminating remarks by a senior Israeli defense official warning that Hamas has until the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the region to reach a hostage deal and avoid the impending offensive.

“Gideon’s Chariots” will commence if no agreement is secured before Trump concludes his Mideast trip next week, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates between May 13 and May 16.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi backed the decision in a series of posts on X, calling it “a courageous first step toward total victory.”

“Control of the territory—not raids. Decisive victory, destruction of the enemy, and return of the hostages. Emigration—not illusions. Without hesitation. With power. With God’s help,” Karhi wrote.

Karhi also took aim at former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, blaming him for resisting calls early in the war to restrict aid to sterile zones, free of terrorist control.

(JNS.org)