ISRAEL has intensified its plans to seize further Palestinian land, with the approval of a major West Bank settlement project and the mobilisation of tens of thousands of reservists for an expanded military operation in Gaza.

These developments come amid heightened promises by global leaders to recognise Palestinian statehood and agreement by Hamas to a ceasefire.

Israel’s military said today it would call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 others for a new phase of operations in Gaza City, one of the most densely populated areas of the already devastated Palestinian territory.

Defence Minister Israel Katz has already approved the scheme, which awaits final authorisation from the army chief of staff.

International leaders and human rights groups warn that such an assault could worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, where most residents are displaced, neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and communities face the threat of famine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists his war’s goal is to free Israeli hostages and prevent Hamas from threatening Israel again.

But relatives of captives accused the government of ignoring a ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas, calling the escalation “a stab in the heart of the families and the public in Israel.”

At least 35 Palestinians, including 10 people seeking food aid, were killed in Israeli strikes in the early hours of today.

Meanwhile, Guy Yifrach, mayor of the illegal Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank, announced that Israel’s civil administration had given planning permission for more than 3,400 new settler homes in the “E1” corridor near Jerusalem.

Infrastructure work could begin within months.

E1 is one of the last remaining links between Ramallah and Bethlehem.

Peace campaigners warn that the construction scheme would cut the West Bank in two, isolating East Jerusalem and ending any hope of a two-state solution.

Peace Now, an Israeli NGO which tracks settlement expansion in the West Bank, called the project “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution” and said it was “guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry denounced the scheme as a “grave violation of international law.”

In a statement, it said the plan would isolate occupied East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, submerge it in settlement blocs connected to Israel and “undermine the prospects of implementing the two-state solution.”

Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative posted on X: “The plan is designed to destroy the possibility of creating a Palestinian state.

“It will cut the West Bank into two separate areas with no contiguity and isolate Jerusalem completely from the rest of the occupied West Bank and will displace thousands of Palestinians from their communities.”

In Gaza, international aid groups warned that, despite Israeli claims to be easing restrictions, shelter materials have yet to reach the coastal enclave.

The United Nations says 1.3 million people lack tents and more are expected to be displaced by an Israeli operation to seize Gaza City.

Save the Children’s Ahmed Alhendawi said: “What we’re seeing in Gaza is nothing short of apocalyptic reality for children, for their families and for this generation.

“The plight and the struggle of this generation of Gaza is beyond being described in words.”