Just days after Hamas accepted a ceasefire agreement proposed by Qatari and Egyptian officials on Monday, Israel will be calling up more than 60,000 reserve troops for duty as it proceeds with its plan for a massive operation and the complete takeover of Gaza City, set to take place in September.
Since the October 7th attack in 2023, Israel has leaned heavily on reservists to sustain its military campaigns in the Gaza Strip. After two years of nonstop fighting, the army is worn down, and the latest push to seize and hold Hamas’s stronghold in Gaza City gives Israel reason to summon more reservists.
Call-up notices will start going out in the coming days, a military official confirmed to the Wall Street Journal. The active duty status of 20,000 reservists already serving is also set to be extended. While the IDF keeps the size of its standing army secret, the official noted that most of the soldiers currently in Gaza are not reservists.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, Israelis rushed to report for duty, many even before being officially called up. That surge has long since faded. Israeli commanders told the Journal it is now far harder to persuade reservists to leave their families, jobs, and daily lives, with a growing number seeking and securing exemptions from service.
Idit Shafran Gittleman, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said, “This is the most contested round of fighting. The length of the high-intensity fighting is unprecedented.” This, of course, means people are less willing to serve and would rather seek an end to the conflict than to continue fighting.
This move comes as the majority of Israeli citizens have voiced support to bring the war to an end, and bargain to secure the safe release of the remaining hostages. An estimated 50 hostages remain in Gaza, but only around 20 are expected to still be alive.
On Monday, Hamas agreed to a 60-day cease-fire that closely mirrors an offer Israel put forward in July. The deal calls for Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for ten living hostages and the remains of those who had been killed. On the first day of the cease-fire, both sides would open talks toward a permanent truce. Israel has yet to decide whether to accept the deal, but an Israeli official has confirmed that if the agreement is accepted, the operation to take over Gaza City would not proceed.