Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to seek approval for Israel to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, raising the prospect of an offensive stretching for several months with open-ended Israeli control of the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The proposal, to be presented on Thursday to the security cabinet and which has been heavily briefed to the Israeli media, is a potential gambit to simultaneously pressure Hamas to cave to its demands over a hostage swap while placating far-right ministers in the Israeli coalition.

But the planning also paves the way for Israel potentially taking over the Palestinian enclave for the second time since the 1967 war, leaving the nation in effective control of all the territories between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.