Netanyahu Tells Biden Israel Is Mobilizing Ground Troops

More than 300,000 reservists have been called up as Israel prepares to escalate its response to Hamas' attack

By Adrian Norman  |  October 09, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told President Joe Biden that Israeli ground troops will be mounting a ground operation as it continues the response to the most devastating attack against the Middle Eastern country in more than 40 years.

“We have to go in. We can’t negotiate now,” the Israeli leader told Biden during an Oct. 8 call, according to multiple Israeli and U.S. sources who spoke to Axios.

Netanyahu told the White House that Israel has no choice but to respond with force because countries cannot show weakness in the Middle East.

“We need to restore deterrence,” Netanyahu told Biden while announcing plans for the full-scale ground invasion.

Chief military spokesperson Rear-Admiral Daniel Hagari says that Israel has drafted a record 300,000 reservists who will soon be mobilized in response to the deadliest attack against the country since the 1973 Yom Kipper War.

During the most recent attack, more than 1,100 people died, while thousands of others have been injured and kidnapped.

Since the surprise attack from Hamas on Oct. 7, Israeli aircraft have been destroying targets in the Gaza Strip, while ground forces have fought to regain control of areas taken over by Palestinian fighters.

“We are now carrying out searches in all of the communities and clearing the area,” Hagari said during a briefing.

“We have never drafted so many reservists on such a scale,” he added. “We are going on the offensive.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country was cutting off all supplies from the Gaza Strip as his country prepares more troops to mobilize. “We are putting a complete siege on Gaza. … No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed,” Gallant said.

While the attack was carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, critics say that cutting off critical supplies like food and water to all Palestinians amounts to a form of collective punishment, a practice that Israel has admitted to in the past and which is in violation of international law.

For the past two days, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting operations resulting in the destruction of hundreds of targets in Gaza.

Hamas, which captured an untold number of hostages from Israel, issued a statement saying they would begin executing hostages on live television for every IDF airstrike that kills a civilian in Gaza.

Some analysts are saying that Israel may need to send in ten soldiers for every Hamas fighter, which is the reason so many troops have been drafted.

On Oct. 9, Israel says it killed a number of terrorist infiltrators who crossed into its territory from Lebanon. “We are defending our country and stand ready on all borders,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

Separately, the IDF cautioned that sirens were sounding in southern Israel before saying that is salutes “each and every soldier who gave their lives in the War with Hamas. The IDF sends [its] heartfelt condolences to their families and will continue to support.”

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