Satellite images show Israel building up forces for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, sources say

WASHINGTON — Commercial satellite images show the Israeli military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery.

The images show troop movements and formations that the four sources recognized as signs of an imminent major ground operation.

Israel’s security Cabinet approved a plan early Friday to take over Gaza City, the Associated Press reported, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The plan falls short of the full occupation of Gaza that Netanyahu had discussed earlier.

If there is a new military operation, it could include efforts to retrieve hostages held by Hamas and expand humanitarian assistance in areas outside the fighting, the three U.S. officials and a person briefed on Israeli discussions said. Israeli troops have been conducting ground operations in Gaza since Oct. 27, 2023, with pauses during two ceasefires.

Netanyahu said Thursday on Fox News that Israel intended to take control of all of Gaza. “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel. That’s what we want to do.”

Pressed again on that point, specifically on whether he meant Israel would “take control of the entire 26-mile Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said: “Well, we don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it.”

The troop buildup comes during a tense time in relations between the United States and Israel. On July 28, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump had a private phone conversation that devolved into shouting amid White House concerns over how the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, a U.S.- and Israel-backed relief effort, is working, according to a senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and a Western official who were briefed on the matter.

The recent flare-up of tensions between Trump and Netanyahu began July 27. Appearing at an event in Jerusalem that day, Netanyahu said: “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza.”

When Trump was asked about those comments the next day during a trip to Scotland, he contradicted Netanyahu. He said that he had seen images of children in Gaza who “look very hungry,” that there is “real starvation” there and that “you can’t fake that.”

Netanyahu then privately demanded a phone call with Trump, the senior U.S. official and the former U.S. official briefed on the call said. The two leaders were connected within hours, those two officials said.

Netanyahu told Trump on the phone that widespread starvation in Gaza is not real and that it had been fabricated by Hamas, said the senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and the Western official, all of whom were briefed on the call. Trump interrupted Netanyahu and began yelling, they said, saying that he did not want to hear that the starvation is fake and that his aides had shown him proof that children there are starving, they said.

White House officials declined to comment on the phone call. Israeli officials declined to comment.

One of the former U.S. officials briefed on the call described it as “a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid” in which Trump “was doing most of the talking.”

“The U.S. not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it because of GHF,” the former official said, referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund.

The phone call prompted a trip to the region last week by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, to find a unified path forward in the war.

Israeli officials were pleased with Witkoff’s visit, according to the Western official and the source briefed on Israeli discussions. The Israelis viewed everything from his body language to the questions he asked as indicators that they were able to effectively communicate the challenges Israel faces. The Israeli officials also addressed international criticism of GHF with Witkoff, explaining why, in their opinion, some critics want it to fail, the source briefed on Israeli discussions said.

GHF has been working in Gaza since May. It operates only in specific designated distribution sites that are far away from some Palestinians who need food, leading to large crowds that Israeli troops — who are stationed nearby — have at times fired upon. As of late July, more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed while seeking food, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. GHF has been boycotted by the U.N., which has operated its own aid distribution network in Gaza.

Witkoff pressed officials about whether current relief efforts can meet ongoing need or should expand further, according to the source briefed on Israeli discussions.

Witkoff has since returned. He briefed Trump on his visit over dinner Monday night, according to a White House official. Their discussion included humanitarian aid in Gaza and Witkoff’s meeting with Israeli officials and hostage families.

Asked by reporters Tuesday whether he would support Israel’s occupying Gaza, Trump said he is focused on getting people there food. As for a military occupation, he said: “I really can’t say. That’s going to be pretty much up to Israel.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC News: “We do not comment on the President’s private conversations. President Trump is focused on returning all the hostages and getting the people in Gaza fed.”

A new Gaza ceasefire has proven elusive. Israel does not believe Hamas is motivated to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages, the source briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official said, and it believes a military offensive is the likeliest option.

The international community has recently been heaping pressure on Israel, with the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others saying they may move to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September.

“It seems like we are at a brick wall, with countries saying they are recognizing Palestine,” said the person briefed on Israeli discussions. “Now all ideas are being exhausted.”

The Western official said an offensive remains a very dangerous prospect for the Israeli military because Hamas is very dug in and there is “no chance they can kill every fighter.”

The Western official added that there is concern that Hamas will kill hostages or put them in the way of fighting if it is threatened.

Israeli forces know the general area where all the hostages are, said the person briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official, one of whom added that the belief is that area is in central Gaza.

“Looking at the condition of hostages, it’s clear that they don’t have much more time,” one of the sources added in reference to a recent video of an emaciated Israeli hostage inside a cramped Gaza tunnel digging his own grave.