JERUSALEM, Aug 14: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to "allow" Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory.
Past calls to resettle Gazans outside of the war-battered territory, including from US President Donald Trump, have sparked concern among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.
Netanyahu defended his war policies in a rare interview with Israeli media, broadcast shortly after Egypt said Gaza mediators were leading a renewed push to secure a 60-day truce.
The premier told Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS that "we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave".
"Give them the opportunity to leave, first of all, combat zones, and generally to leave the territory, if they want," he said, citing refugee outflows during wars in Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel for years has tightly controlled the borders and barred many from leaving.
Mediators make final push for Gaza truce deal
"We will allow this, first of all within Gaza during the fighting, and we will certainly allow them to leave Gaza as well," Netanyahu said.
For Palestinians, any effort to force them off their land would recall the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.
Netanyahu has endorsed Trump's suggestion this year to expel Gaza's more than two million people to Egypt and Jordan, while far-right Israeli ministers have called for their "voluntary" departure.
Mediation efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a breakthrough since a short-lived truce earlier this year.
News of the potential truce talks came as Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel has intensified its air strikes on Gaza City in recent days, following the security cabinet's decision to expand the war there.
Intensified strikes
Netanyahu's government has not provided an exact timetable on when forces may enter the area, but civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said on Tuesday that air raids had already begun increasing over the past three days.
Israel is "intensifying its bombardment" using "bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction", he said.
Bassal said that Israeli strikes across the territory, including on Gaza City, killed at least 33 people on Tuesday.
"The bombardment has been extremely intense for the past two days. With every strike, the ground shakes," said Majed al-Hosary, a resident of Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood.
An Israeli air strike on Sunday killed four Al Jazeera employees and two freelance reporters outside a Gaza City hospital, with Israel accusing one of the slain correspondents of being a Hamas militant.
Israel has faced mounting criticism over the war, which was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas's October 2023 attack.
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.
Netanyahu is under mounting domestic pressure to secure the release of the remaining hostages -- 49 people including 27 the Israeli military says are dead -- as well as over his plans to expand the war.
Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,599 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, whose toll the United Nations considers reliable.