While negotiations between Israel and Hamas on advancing to phase B of the ceasefire deal are continuing, Israel is already preparing for significant action in the Strip, the Wall Street Journal reported on Shabbos.

According to the report, Israel has formulated a plan with a series of steps to increase pressure on Hamas. The first step has already been implemented in the past week with the cessation of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The next moves against Hamas in Gaza will include cutting off electricity and water supplies to Gaza. The report quoted Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich as saying that the measures against Hamas were discussed at the Cabinet meeting earlier this week.

If these measures fail, Israel may turn to an operation of air strikes and tactical raids against Hamas targets, an Israeli security analyst who was briefed on the plan told the Wall Street Journal.

In the next stage, Israel may again evacuate the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who took advantage of the ceasefire to return to their homes in northern Gaza, the analyst added.

Sources familiar with the Israeli plan said that eventually Israel could return to intense activity in the Gaza Strip, this time using more force than was used in the previous stages of the fighting.

Some Israeli security analysts say that the country is in a much better position to enter Gaza than it was at the beginning of the war. Its ammunition stockpiles have been replenished, the restrictions and pressure imposed on it by the Biden administration have been removed, and it no longer needs to maintain a large number of soldiers on the northern border to defend against a Hezbollah attack.

The report clarified that the escalation stages may last up to two months, during which time Israel will prepare its forces for another entry into Gaza.

“Many in Israel feel that another entry into the Strip is unavoidable,” the report concluded.

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)