The agency reported that the National Security Council and the Israeli Ministry of Finance had discussed in recent days the need to increase the Ministry of Defense's budget in preparation for the operation.
According to the same source, the Israeli government is expected to increase the defense budget, with possible budget cuts for other ministries to fund the operation.
As part of military preparations, the Israeli army announced the recruitment of more than 35,000 reserve soldiers, the largest recruitment wave since the beginning of the war. An additional 25,000 reservists are expected to join them in the coming weeks, bringing the total number of reservists allocated for the operation to approximately 60,000.
The authority explained that the occupation army intends to withdraw the Commando Brigade from the northern border and replace it with reserve soldiers. Meanwhile, units of the Paratroopers Brigade will remain in the West Bank, while the remaining regular brigades will participate in military maneuvers inside the Gaza Strip.
According to estimates, the occupation army will be ready to begin implementing the operation within three weeks, after a short period of training for reserve soldiers and rest for regular soldiers.
The authority explained that regular brigades will lead operations from the encirclement of the city to the fighting within it, while reserve soldiers will control the border areas with the Gaza Strip.
The commission indicated that the start of the ground offensive is linked to the evacuation of residents of Gaza City, home to approximately 800,000 people. According to Israeli estimates, only about 10,000 civilians have been evacuated so far.
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The commission quoted security sources as saying that the comprehensive evacuation process will not begin until Israel imposes a complete blockade on the city and intensifies its military attacks, while simultaneously reducing the entry of humanitarian aid.
The commission also noted that the call-up of reserves comes amid disagreements between the Israeli political leadership and security establishment leaders, who have expressed a desire to reach a prisoner exchange deal. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for a military operation aimed at releasing prisoners and defeating Hamas, despite skepticism from many former officials and opposition figures about the effectiveness of such a move, and the Israeli military warning that the operation could endanger the lives of prisoners.
In this context, Channel 12 recently revealed a secret document issued by the Israeli occupation army, acknowledging the failure of the first phase of Operation Gideon, which was carried out in Gaza between May 16 and August 6, to achieve its stated objectives, most notably eliminating Hamas and recovering Israeli captives.
On August 18, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal submitted by mediating parties. The proposal included provisions consistent with an earlier proposal presented by US envoy Steve Witkoff and accepted by Israel. However, Tel Aviv has yet to respond to the proposal.
Tel Aviv estimates that there are 48 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, 20 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, more than 10,800 Palestinians are languishing in its prisons, suffering from torture, starvation, and medical neglect. Many of these Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left 63,633 Palestinians dead, 160,914 injured, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that killed 361 Palestinians, including 130 children.
