The IDF has drawn up plans to significantly expand its presence in Gaza in the coming weeks in an effort to increase pressure on Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages, a senior Israeli defense source said on Monday.

Residents of Rafah, in southern Gaza, received notices from the IDF on Monday to evacuate the area and move north of the city.

The notices were part of the Israeli military’s plan, presented in a press briefing on Monday, to gradually evacuate Palestinians from more areas in Gaza and drastically widen the buffer zone between Israeli towns and Gazans in all directions in the coming weeks, with an emphasis on the north and south of the Strip. 

If Hamas does not agree to a hostage deal, Israel will call up large numbers of reservists and return to a full-scale ground war, the source said.

Responding to anti-Hamas protesters in Gaza last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a message to Palestinians there that the terror group “is endangering your lives and will lead you to lose your homes and more and more territory will be made part of Israel’s security zone … Demand that Hamas leave Gaza and immediately release all of the Israeli hostages. That is the only way to stop the war.” 

Israel believes that its current military operations in Gaza will increase pressure on Hamas to free the hostages, and the defense source posited that they were already seeing results in the indirect negotiations with the terrorist group.

According to Israeli Channel 12, Hamas on Monday rejected the most recent proposal by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel accepted, according to the defense source, that would have Hamas release all of the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza over the course of a 40-day ceasefire.

In the initial days of the deal, Hamas would release Edan Alexander, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, as a gesture to the U.S., and 10 other living hostages would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

On the fifth day of the deal, Hamas would provide information about all of the remaining hostages. On the 10th, the terrorist group would return the bodies of 15 hostages.

By the end of the ceasefire, all hostages, both alive and deceased, would be released.

The deal would not be contingent on the war ending or a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza, and Israel would insist on remaining in the buffer zone along the enclave’s perimeter, as it did in the previous ceasefire that began in January.

Hamas seeks an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in any future agreement.

Israel has maintained a buffer zone in Syria, as well, which is two-pronged. The 15 kilometers to the east of the Israeli Golan Heights is a buffer zone with a frequent — though not constant — IDF presence, and from there northeast until Damascus, Israel has enforced a demilitarized zone.

The Trump administration expressed its total support for Israel’s actions in Syria, according to the defense source. Israeli officials also view Russia as sharing its interests in Syria.

Israel continues to be concerned about Turkish involvement in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a prayer in honor of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday taking place on Monday, “may Allah destroy Israel.” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X that “Erdogan revealed his antisemitic face” and that he “is dangerous to the region, as well as to his own people.”  

In light of Iran’s weakened state following Israel’s destruction of its air-defense systems last year, as well as the downfall of its proxies in Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s defense agencies unanimously believe that there is a unique opportunity for Israel to strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, the defense source said.

Trump’s comment on Sunday to NBC News that if Iran’s leaders “don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” was viewed by the senior defense source as a sign the president will not let Iran attain a nuclear weapon.

At the same time, the many positive comments from the Trump administration about the Qataris — including by Witkoff and Trump himself — have tied Israel’s hands when it comes to the Gulf state. While Qatar sponsors Hamas and senior figures in Jerusalem view it as a primary driver of anti-Israel incitement via Al Jazeera and beyond, their current position is to try to work cordially with Doha as one of the few elements with leverage over Hamas in hostage talks.