JERUSALEM — Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City, in another escalation of its 22-month war with Hamas. The decision, made after a late-night meeting of top officials, drew Palestinian rejection, fueled mounting international calls to end the war and provoked worries in Israel over the fate of hostages still held by Hamas.

Israel’s air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe.

Hamas rebuffed Netanyahu’s plans in a statement and said people in Gaza would “remain defiant against occupation.”

“Expanding of aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park,” the group said.

Netanyahu has signaled plans for even broader war

Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined more sweeping plans in an interview with Fox News, saying Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza. Israel already controls around three quarters of the devastated territory.

Israel’s plan, announced after the Security Cabinet met through Thursday night, stopped short of what Netanyahu had suggested, and may be aimed in part at pressuring Hamas to accept a ceasefire on Israel’s terms.

It may also reflect the reservations of Israel’s top general, who reportedly warned that expanding operations would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel’s army after nearly two years of regional wars.

The military “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after the meeting.

‘There is nothing left to occupy’

Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighborhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today, it is one of the few areas in Gaza that hasn’t been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.

A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory.

It’s unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gaza’s largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year.

Palestinians were already anticipating even more suffering ahead of the decision, and at least 42 were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings on Thursday, according to local hospitals.

Israel’s military offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals.

The United Nations and independent experts view the ministry’s figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them without offering a toll of its own.

“There is nothing left to occupy,” said Maysaa al-Heila, who is living in a displacement camp. “There is no Gaza left.”

‘We don’t want to keep it’

Asked in the interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza,” Netanyahu replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas (from) there.”

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” Netanyahu said in the interview. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”

Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the group would view Netanyahu’s proposal of an Arab-led force in post-war Gaza as linked to Israel. He warned it could further “plunge the region into new trouble.”

Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports on the closed-door Security Cabinet meeting.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. Israel believes around 20 of them to be alive.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Friday that the cabinet’s plan would endanger them and would not advance Israel toward its objectives.

“This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be mired on the ground with no purpose, without defining the dayafter picture, in a pointless occupation that no one understands where it is leading,” he said in a statement on X.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Krauss from Ottawa, Ontario.