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Is­rael ap­proved plans Mon­day to cap­ture the en­tire Gaza Strip and re­main in the Pales­tin­ian ter­ri­to­ry for an un­spec­i­fied amount of time, two Is­raeli of­fi­cials said, a move that, if im­ple­ment­ed, would vast­ly ex­pand Is­rael’s op­er­a­tions in Gaza and like­ly bring fierce in­ter­na­tion­al op­po­si­tion.

Is­raeli Cab­i­net min­is­ters ap­proved the plan in an ear­ly morn­ing vote, hours af­ter the Is­raeli mil­i­tary chief said the army was call­ing up tens of thou­sands of re­serve sol­diers.

The new plan, which the of­fi­cials said was meant to help Is­rael achieve its war aims of de­feat­ing Hamas and free­ing hostages held in Gaza, al­so calls for hun­dreds of thou­sands of Pales­tini­ans to move to Gaza’s south — in what would like­ly amount to their forcible dis­place­ment and ex­ac­er­bate an al­ready dire hu­man­i­tar­i­an cri­sis.