Israel was issuing orders to call up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of an expanded offensive in Gaza, Israeli media reported on Saturday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked truce mediator Qatar.
Several news outlets reported the army had begun sending the orders for reservists to replace conscripts and active-duty soldiers in Israel and the occupied West Bank so they can be redeployed to Gaza.
A military spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the reports but relatives of Agence France-Presse journalists were among those who received mobilisation orders.
According to Israel’s public broadcaster, the security cabinet is scheduled to meet on Sunday to approve the expansion of the military offensive in Gaza.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s political office, brokered the truce alongside the US and Egypt that came into effect in January. Efforts to secure a new deal however have appeared to stall in recent weeks.
