Israel to mobilize 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded Gaza City operation

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military said Wednesday it will call up 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded military operation in Gaza City. Many residents have chosen to stay despite the danger, fearing nowhere is safe in a territory facing shortages of food, water and other necessities.

Calling up extra military reservists is part a plan Defense Minister Israel Katz approved to begin a new phase of operations in some of Gaza’s most densely populated areas, the military said. The plan, which is expected to receive the chief of staff's final approval in the coming days, also includes extending the service of 20,000 additional reservists who are already on active duty.

In a country of fewer than 10 million people, the call-up of reservists is the largest in months and carries economic and political weight. It comes days after hundreds of thousands of Israelis rallied for a ceasefire, as negotiators scramble to get Israel and Hamas to agree to end their 22 months of fighting, and as rights groups warn that an expanded assault could deepen the crisis in the Gaza Strip, where most of the roughly 2 million inhabitants have been displaced, many areas have been reduced to rubble, and the population faces the threat of famine.

An Israeli military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said troops will operate in parts of Gaza City where they haven't been deployed yet and where Israel believes Hamas is still active. Israeli troops in the the city's Zeitoun neighborhood and in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, are already preparing the groundwork for the expanded operation, which could begin within days.

Though the timeline wasn't clear, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that Netanyahu “has directed that the timetables ... be shortened” for launching the offensive.

Gaza City is Hamas’ military and governing stronghold, and one of the last places of refuge in the northern Strip, where hundreds of thousands are sheltering. Israeli troops will be targeting Hamas’ vast underground tunnel network there, the official added.

Although Israel has targeted and killed much of Hamas’ senior leadership, parts of Hamas are actively regrouping and carrying out attacks, including launching rockets towards Israel, the official said.

Netanyahu has said the war's objectives are to secure the release of remaining hostages and ensure that Hamas and other militants can never again threaten Israel.

The planned offensive, announced earlier this month, comes amid heightened international condemnation of Israel's restrictions on food and medicine reaching Gaza and fears that many Palestinians will be forced to flee.

“It’s pretty obvious that it will just create another mass displacement of people who have been displaced repeatedly since this phase of the conflict started,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Associated Press journalists saw small groups heading south from the city this week, but it's unclear how many others will voluntarily flee. Some said they would wait to see how events unfold, with many insisting that nowhere is safe from airstrikes.

“What we’re seeing in Gaza is nothing short of apocalyptic reality for children, for their families, and for this generation,” Ahmed Alhendawi, regional director of Save the Children, said in an interview. “The plight and the struggle of this generation of Gaza is beyond being described in words.”

The call-up comes amid a growing campaign by exhausted reservists who accuse the Israeli government of perpetuating the war for political reasons and failing to bring home the 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

The hostages' families and former army and intelligence chiefs have also expressed opposition to the expanded operation in Gaza City. Most of the families want an immediate ceasefire and worry that an expanded assault could imperil the surviving hostages.

Guy Poran, a retired air force pilot who has organized veterans campaigning to end the war, said many reservists are spent after repeated tours lasting hundreds of days and resent those who haven't been called up.

“Even those that are not ideologically against the current war or the government's new plans don't want to go because of fatigue or their families or their businesses,” he said.

Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Hamas says it will only free the rest in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Arab mediators and Hamas said this week that the militant group's leaders had agreed to the terms of a proposed 60-day ceasefire, though similar announcements have been made in the past that didn't lead to a lasting truce.

Egypt and Qatar have said they are waiting for Israel’s response.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, spoke by phone Wednesday with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the proposed ceasefire in the hopes of winning Israel’s acceptance, the Egyptian foreign ministry said. During the call, Abdelatty urged Israel to “put an end to this unjust war” by negotiating a comprehensive deal and “to lay the foundations for a just settlement of the Palestinian cause,” according to the Egyptian government.

An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media said Israel is in constant contact with the mediators in an effort to secure the hostages' release.

Netanyahu has repeatedly said he will oppose a deal that doesn't include the “complete defeat of Hamas.”

Also Wednesday, Israel gave final approval to a controversial settlement project east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. The development in what’s called E1 would effectively cut the territory in two. Palestinians and rights groups say it could destroy hopes for a future Palestinian state.

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 were wounded Wednesday at the Zikim crossing in northwestern Gaza as a crowd rushed toward a U.N. convoy transporting humanitarian aid, according to health officials.

“The majority of casualties were killed by gunshots fired by the Israeli troops,” said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s ambulance and emergency service in northern Gaza. “The rush toward the trucks and the stampede killed and injured others.”

The dead included people seeking aid and Palestinians guarding the convoy, Awad told the AP. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 62,122 people have been killed during Israel's offensive, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants, but it said women and children make up around half of them.

In addition, 154 adults have died from malnutrition-related causes since late June, when the ministry began counting such deaths, and 112 children have died from malnutrition-related causes since the war began.

An Israeli tank moves through an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas take part in a protest demanding their immediate release and calling for the end of the war in the Gaza Strip as they march on a road near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews block a highway during a protest against army recruitment, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli soldier stands on the top of a tank parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

Israeli soldiers uses binoculars to look at damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip, from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating whether Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded federal immigration enforcement through public statements they have made, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.

The investigation focused on potential violation of a conspiracy statute, the people said.

The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a pending investigation by name.

CBS News first reported the investigation.

The investigation comes during a weekslong immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest recent immigration enforcement operation, resulting in more than 2,500 arrests.

The operation has become more confrontational since the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7, with agents pulling people from cars and homes and frequently being confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave. State and local officials have repeatedly told protesters to remain peaceful.

In response to reports of the investigation, Walz said in a statement: “Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”

U.S. senators Kelly, from Arizona, and Slotkin, from Michigan, are under investigation from the President Donald Trump administration after appearing with other Democratic lawmakers in a video urging members of the military to resist “illegal orders." The administration has also launched a criminal investigation of Powell, a first for a sitting federal reserve chair.

Walz’s office said it has not received any notice of an investigation.

Frey described the investigation as an attempt to intimidate him for “standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our streets.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis did not immediately comment.

In a post on the social media platform X following reports of the investigation, Attorney General Pam Bondi said: “A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law.” She did not specifically mention the investigation.

State authorities, meanwhile, had a message for any weekend protests against the Trump administration’s immigration sweep in the Twin Cities: avoid confrontation.

“While peaceful expression is protected, any actions that harm people, destroy property or jeopardize public safety will not be tolerated,” said Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

His comments came after Trump backed off a bit from his threat a day earlier to invoke an 1807 law, the Insurrection Act, to send troops to suppress demonstrations.

“I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

Federal officers in the Minneapolis-area participating in the enforcement operation can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters, including people observing the agents, a U.S. judge in Minnesota ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez ruled in the case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists, which were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.

Government attorneys argued that the officers have been acting within their legal authority to enforce immigration laws and protect themselves. But the ACLU has said government officers are violating the constitutional rights of Twin Cities residents.

A Liberian man who has been shuttled in and out of custody since immigration agents broke down his door with a battering ram was released again Friday, hours after a routine check-in with authorities led to his second arrest.

The dramatic initial arrest of Garrison Gibson last weekend was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled the arrest unlawful Thursday and freed him, but Gibson was detained again Friday when he appeared at an immigration office.

A few hours later, Gibson was free again, attorney Marc Prokosch said.

“In the words of my client, he said that somebody at ICE said they bleeped up and so they re-released him this afternoon and so he’s out of custody,” Prokosch said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gibson, 37, who fled the civil war in his West African home country as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, Prokosch said, and complied with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.

In his Thursday order, the judge agreed that officials violated regulations by not giving Gibson enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked. Prokosch said he was told by ICE that they are “now going through their proper channels" to revoke the order.

Minneapolis authorities released police and fire dispatch logs and transcripts of 911 calls, all related to the fatal shooting of Good. Firefighters found what appeared to be two gunshot wounds in her right chest, one in her left forearm and a possible gunshot wound on the left side of her head, records show.

“They shot her, like, cause she wouldn’t open her car door,” a caller said. “Point blank range in her car.”

Good, 37, was at the wheel of her Honda Pilot, which was partially blocking a street. Video showed an officer approached the SUV, demanded that she open the door and grabbed the handle.

Good began to pull forward and turned the vehicle's wheel to the right. Another ICE officer, Jonathan Ross, pulled his gun and fired at close range, jumping back as the SUV moved past him. DHS claims the agent shot Good in self-defense.

Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit; Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City; Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, attend a vigil honoring Renee Good on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn., outside the Minnesota State Capitol. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, right, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Teyana Gibson Brown, second from left, wife of Garrison Gibson, reacts after federal immigration officers arrested Garrison Gibson, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

ADDS IDENTIFICATION: Garrison Gibson becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A man is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A man becomes emotional as he is arrested by federal immigration officers Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal immigration officers prepare to enter a home to make an arrest after an officer used a battering ram to break down a door Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, including one wearing a 'NOT ICE' face covering, walk near their vehicles, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A person looks out of their vehicle as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk away, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)