On Wednesday, Israel announced it expects its offensive to take control of Gaza City to displace one million Palestinians, while thousands protested in Jerusalem demanding an end to the war and the release of hostages held in the Palestinian enclave, where civil defense reported 45 deaths.

Since the war erupted in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that his government’s declared goals include the return of hostages and the elimination of the movement.

However, after about 23 months since the war began and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis that led the United Nations to officially declare famine in Gaza in August, the Israeli Prime Minister faces increasing domestic and international pressure to cease fire and reach a hostage release agreement.

Nevertheless, his government recently approved a plan to take control of Gaza, the largest city in the enclave, where Israeli forces control about 75 percent of its territory. The army confirmed readiness to launch a large-scale attack on the city, home to around one million people, and Israel began mobilizing forces this week after calling up tens of thousands of reservists.

A statement from the army said Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir toured the enclave and inspected soldiers at a site overlooking Gaza City, stating, “We are intensifying our operations on the main front.”

A senior official from the Israeli Government Activities Coordination Unit in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT) said Israel expects “one million people” to be displaced from Gaza City towards the south, without specifying a timeframe.

The official from the Ministry of Defense unit, speaking anonymously to reporters, added, “So far, about 70,000 Gazans have left the northern part of the enclave.”

The war has forced the vast majority of the enclave’s population, which exceeds two million, to displace multiple times. The official indicated that Israel “seeks to designate a humanitarian zone,” which will be officially announced in the coming days.

This zone is expected to extend from a group of refugee camps in central Gaza to the coastal Al-Mawasi area in the south and will also extend eastward, according to the official.

At the start of the war, Israel classified Al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian zone,” but the displaced tents there have not been spared from repeated Israeli army shelling.