Israel has begun the earliest stages of a massive assault on Gaza City, calling up tens of thousands of reservists in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed as a decisive move to dismantle Hamas’ remaining strongholds. The operation will require 60,000 additional reserve troops and an extension of service for another 20,000 soldiers, even as the Israeli military acknowledges growing exhaustion within its ranks after nearly two years of continuous war. Military leaders had initially projected that seizing Gaza City could take months, but Netanyahu has ordered an accelerated timeline, sparking both domestic unease and international condemnation over worsening humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has already reached the outskirts of Gaza City, with officials portraying the maneuver as the start of a broader takeover. Yet the campaign comes at a steep cost to morale: a recent survey from Hebrew University suggested that 40% of Israeli soldiers feel less motivated to serve, while only 13% feel more committed. With many reservists having been deployed to Gaza multiple times since the war began, senior commanders have warned of burnout and attrition. Anger is also simmering over the government’s ongoing efforts to exempt ultra-Orthodox men from service, a move that has further divided Israeli society at a time of unprecedented military demand.
The new offensive has revived calls from some reservist groups urging soldiers to refuse orders, arguing that the operation jeopardizes the lives of hostages still held in Gaza. Avshalom Zohar Sal, a reservist who served more than 300 days on four separate deployments, has publicly declared he will not return, describing the government’s strategy as “a death sentence for the hostages.” Similar sentiments were echoed by former IDF chief Dan Halutz, who predicted many reservists will stay home, saying the war had lost its logic long ago. While reserve call-ups remain mandatory, the military has shown little appetite for prosecuting those who decline to report.
Humanitarian agencies warn the offensive threatens to deepen a crisis already described as catastrophic. More than two million Palestinians in Gaza—half of them displaced—are enduring severe hunger, disease, and lack of shelter nearly two years into the war. The UN says cases of child malnutrition have tripled in less than six months, with nearly one in three children in Gaza City now undernourished. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, has accused Israel of engineering “a man-made, preventable starvation,” though Netanyahu’s government continues to deny that famine conditions exist.
Despite repeated assurances from Netanyahu that the war’s “intense phase” would have ended long ago, Israel now finds itself locked in its longest and most divisive conflict. With Gaza City—home to more than a million already displaced civilians—set to become the next epicenter of fighting, the campaign highlights Israel’s mounting military strain, its deepening political fractures, and a humanitarian emergency that aid groups say has reached the point of calamity.
