IDF Brigades were instructed to prepare for the expected new offensive in Gaza on Thursday, a year after the military completed the offensive that began the war 20 months ago, in the northern part of the Strip.
Preparations, including military drills, will not begin immediately, but the troops can expect changes to their schedule as the IDF moves forward in accordance with the plan.
An offensive will not begin before September and will depend on the efforts to move nearly one million civilians from Gaza City and its surrounding areas to the humanitarian areas in the South, an undertaking that will depend on the cooperation of the UN.
IDF reserve units have also received notices in the past 48 hours, alerting them to prepare to be called to service next month, which will no doubt disrupt their holiday season.
The military said great efforts were being made to allow troops time to rest and recuperate and to gradually deploy the forces that are already fatigued by the long months of war and long stretches of deployment in the Strip.
The next phase of preparations will be to finalize operations plans for at least four regiments, including reserve forces, that would be the first to encircle Gaza City and move slowly into the western city sectors that have remaining high-rise apartment blocks.
Meanwhile, efforts to provide increased humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza continue, in the hope that it would renew international legitimacy for the occupation of the city after Hamas successfully convinced the world that there is starvation in the Strip.
Some 400 trucks carrying food, medicine and fuel crossed into Gaza on Thursday, a record number since the resumption of aid supplies. Trucks bursting with provisions were seen crossing the Kissufim border crossing, some losing sacks of flour that had fallen off onto the road.
