JERUSALEM, Aug. 13– Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir on Wednesday approved the main framework of a government plan to expand the offensive in Gaza to areas not yet under Israeli control.
The offensive will later target refugee camps in central Gaza and the southern area of Al Mawasi, where most of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have taken shelter, according to a statement by the Israeli military.
The principles of the plan were approved in a meeting of security officials earlier on Wednesday, the statement said, adding that “the central concept for the plan for the next stages in the Gaza Strip was presented and approved, in accordance with the directive of the political echelon.”
Zamir’s approval came three days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had been ordered to enter the “decisive stage” of the Gaza war, aimed at seizing the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City, refugee camps in central Gaza and Al Mawasi’s southern area, an order widely condemned by the international community amid Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis. (Xinhua)
