Netanyahu's Dual Strategy: Takeover and Talks

Jerusalem, Israel — In a move that has drawn widespread international scrutiny, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a two-pronged strategy for the Gaza conflict: a military takeover of Gaza City alongside a resumption of ceasefire negotiations. The announcement comes as a new, classified Israeli intelligence report suggests that the vast majority of casualties in the war have been civilians.

Speaking to military officials on Thursday, Netanyahu confirmed he would "approve plans" for an expanded military operation in Gaza City, which the Israeli military sees as the final remaining stronghold of Hamas. This decision signals an intent to move ahead with a full-scale assault despite growing international pressure and pleas from humanitarian organizations to halt the offensive.

However, in a seemingly contradictory statement, the prime minister also declared that he had instructed officials to "begin immediate negotiations" to free the remaining hostages and bring an end to the nearly two-year-old conflict. This is Israel’s first public response to a recent ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt and Qatar that Hamas reportedly accepted earlier in the week. Netanyahu has consistently maintained that military pressure and diplomatic efforts are "intertwined" and necessary for achieving Israel's war aims.

Civilian Casualties Far Higher Than Publicly Stated

The announcement of a renewed offensive comes as a joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call has revealed a classified Israeli military intelligence database with startling figures on the war's human cost.

The data, current as of May 2025, indicates that approximately 83% of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were civilians. According to the database, a total of 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were listed as dead or "probably dead." When compared to the 53,000 total deaths recorded by Gaza health authorities at the time, this leaves a wide discrepancy.

This finding contradicts public claims from Israeli officials, who have repeatedly cited a much lower civilian-to-combatant ratio, sometimes as low as 1:1 or 2:1. Conflict researchers and humanitarian groups have described a civilian casualty rate of 83% as "unusually high" for modern warfare, a ratio with few parallels in recent conflicts.

When confronted with the findings, an Israeli military spokesperson did not directly deny the existence of the database or the figures for militant casualties, but issued a statement claiming the "figures presented in the article are incorrect" without providing alternative data.

A Looming Humanitarian Crisis

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. A UN-backed report has formally declared a famine in and around Gaza City, and has projected that famine conditions will spread to other areas of the Strip in the coming weeks. Aid groups have warned that any further military offensive in the already densely populated Gaza City would have catastrophic consequences for the civilian population.

The convergence of these events—a planned military offensive, a renewed but cautious diplomatic push, and the revelation of a high civilian death toll—underscores the ongoing complexity and gravity of the conflict. The next steps from both sides will be critical in determining the future of the region and the fate of its people.