Viki Cohen, the mother of Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen, has spoken out against reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to fully occupy Gaza.
“We’re hearing talk about conquering Gaza, that will be a death sentence for our hostages,” said Cohen, after stating that the Israeli government “is ruining all of our values.”
Addressing the crowd at a protest in Tel Aviv, where demonstrators gathered on Tuesday against the reported plan for Gaza, Cohen said: “We can’t allow that to happen, and that’s why we’re here to continue fighting, to say: ‘Enough, stop.’”
TIME has reached out to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, who represent those with relatives still held in Gaza, for comment.
Israeli media has reported that Netanyahu is set to meet with his security cabinet on Thursday with the aim of making a decision over whether or not to fully occupy Gaza.
Read More: Former IDF Chiefs Call on Israel to End War in Gaza as Netanyahu Claims Starvation Is ‘Hamas Libel’
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a three-hour security discussion today, in which options for proceeding with the campaign in Gaza were presented by the IDF Chief-of-Staff,” Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday. “The IDF is prepared to carry out any decision made by the Security Cabinet.”
A senior official close to Netanyahu was quoted prior to the talks, saying: “The die is cast. We are going for the complete conquest of the Strip—and the defeat of Hamas.”
Other Israeli media quoted senior officials in the Prime Minister’s office saying: “Hamas will not release any more hostages without complete surrender, we will not surrender. If we do not act now, the hostages will die of hunger and Gaza will remain under Hamas control.”
TIME has been unable to independently verify these reports.
The IDF issued evacuation orders on Wednesday morning for residents in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, instructing them to move south. “As you have been warned, the Defense Army continues to intensify its operations westward,” said IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has commented on the reported Gaza proposal.
“I don’t know what the suggestion is, I know that we are there trying to get people fed,” he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, referring to the ongoing malnutrition crisis in Gaza.
Trump added that Gazans “are obviously not doing too well with the food… Israel is going to help us with that in terms of distribution and also money.”
U.N. Assistant General Secretary Miroslav Jenča has also spoken out about the reported plan, calling it “deeply alarming” during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
“This would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza,” he said, adding that the only way to ensure an end to the violence in Gaza is a permanent cease-fire.
It’s estimated that 20 living hostages are still being held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza. Of the estimated 250 people taken during the Hamas terror attack, 140 have been released during negotiations or deals, 8 have been rescued, and the bodies of 57 who died in captivity or during rescue attempts have been recovered.
Read More: The Tragedy Unfolding in Gaza
The reported proposal for Gaza comes after several former IDF chiefs and high-level security officials called for an end to the war.
In a video released over the weekend, Nadav Argaman, the former head of Israeli security agency Shin Bet, said: “The direction the government is currently heading to [is] an extremist, fundamentalist world view… it has taken us all hostage.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has previously encouraged Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza, also featured in the video.
Furthermore, Barak was one of over 500 retired Israeli officials that signed an open letter to Trump on Aug. 1, calling on the President to “exert his full influence” to end the war and return the hostages that remain in Gaza.
Read More: Ehud Barak: Israel Must Back Donald Trump’s Deal To End the War in Gaza
Discussions about the future of Gaza come days after a U.N.-backed food security body warned that the “worst case famine scenario” is unfolding on the Strip.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported on July 29.
193 people have now died of famine and malnutrition, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israel-Hamas war was triggered after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In the absence of independent monitoring on the ground, the ministry is the primary source for casualty data relied upon by humanitarian groups, journalists, and international bodies. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified by TIME.
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