Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel declared on Monday that his country is “on the eve of a forceful entry to Gaza” after his security cabinet approved a new plan for tens of thousands of additional soldiers to seize and hold territory in the embattled enclave and relocate Palestinians to the south.

In video posted to social media as military reservists across Israel began receiving notices of their call-up, Mr. Netanyahu said that the country’s top military officials had recommended what he called an “intensive” escalation of the 18-month war.

“It’s time to launch the concluding moves,” Mr. Netanyahu said the military officials told him, adding that the new campaign would help bring home the hostages still being held in Gaza. The prime minister said he believes “we are not done. We are before the finish line.”

The escalation followed more than two months in which Israel continued to blockade and bombard the Gaza Strip as cease-fire talks to free the remaining hostages ground to a near standstill. Israel has barred any humanitarian aid to Gaza in an effort to press Hamas to surrender, leading aid groups to denounce mounting deprivation among Palestinians there.

Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents quickly criticized the expanded military campaign, saying it would endanger the remaining hostages’ lives and would not fundamentally change the dynamic that 18 months of war has wrought. The prime minister’s critics — both inside and outside the country — have urged him to bring to an end a conflict that began when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and took some 250 hostage.

Israeli officials said the offensive would start slowly in anticipation of cease-fire negotiations that are ongoing ahead of President Trump’s trip next week to the region for meetings in several Arab capitals. But the officials said that if a deal is not reached soon, the expanded ground operation would commence in earnest.