Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has approved a military plan to seize Gaza City and authorised the mobilisation of about 60,000 reservists, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. The call-up, part of an operation codenamed “Gideon’s Chariot,” follows a security-cabinet decision earlier this month to expand the nearly two-year-old campaign against Hamas’s remaining strongholds. The Israel Defense Forces said preliminary moves are under way. “We have begun the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and IDF forces are already holding the outskirts,” spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters. Most combat units deployed in the densely populated urban centre will be active-duty troops, while reservists are expected to report from early September to reinforce other sectors and replace forces rotated into Gaza. The escalation comes as mediators from Egypt and Qatar press Israel to respond to a 60-day cease-fire proposal that Hamas accepted on Monday in exchange for a staged release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Israel has yet to reply; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that all remaining captives—estimated by officials at about 50—must be freed before a truce can take hold. International concern is mounting over the humanitarian cost of an assault on Gaza’s largest city. French President Emmanuel Macron warned the operation “can only lead to a true disaster” and risk a prolonged regional conflict, while U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire. Gaza health authorities say more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, and the United Nations has warned of mass displacement if residents are forced to evacuate again. The war erupted after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 cross-border attack, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and led to the seizure of 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israeli forces now hold roughly 75 % of the Gaza Strip and argue that taking Gaza City is essential to dismantling Hamas’s remaining command network. Diplomatic pressure is intensifying, but for now Israel appears determined to press ahead with the largest mobilisation of reservists since the start of the conflict.