What to know about Israel's planned assault on Gaza City

Israel's defence minister is expected on Tuesday to green-light military plans for a full-scale assault on the largest city in Gaza, in an offensive that could result in large-scale devastation for its inhabitants.

Gaza City, home to around 740,000 people and the largest urban area in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, will soon come under an unprecedented attack by Israeli forces, who plan over the coming months to seize control of the area and forcibly displace its population.

Emptying the city

Earlier this month, the Israeli government agreed to further expand the war, despite international outrage at the military's genocidal conduct and growing starvation in Gaza.

Amid opposition from within the defence establishment, the security cabinet watered down its original plan to occupy the entire territory and decided to besiege Gaza City.

Before launching a ground offensive, the Israeli military will forcibly displace the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have remained in the city to the south.

In closed-door discussions in recent days, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told government officials that displacing the population will take "a little less than two months".

"We are preparing for the complexity of motivating the residents, so we are preparing with a variety of tools to get them to leave the city," he was quoted as saying by Israel's Channel 12.

Israel says it will help provide the displaced with tents and equipment for sheltering, but with more than 80 percent of the enclave now off limits to Palestinians, it is unclear where it expects them to go.

Dozens of displacement orders have forced the territory's 2.2 million residents into just three corners of the strip: Gaza City, Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and the so-called humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi.

The ground offensive

The military will begin an all-out assault after the population has been forced out, according to Zamir, who said it would then complete the "encirclement, entry and conquest" of the city.

Far-right members of the Israeli cabinet have called for the levelling of the entire city, as the military has done in other areas such as Rafah and northern Gaza.

The long-term goal

The Israeli government's official position is that taking control of the area is essential to defeating Hamas and returning the remaining captives being held in Gaza.

However, the far right, as well as many in Netanyahu's Likud party, are pushing for the occupation of the entire territory, followed by its annexation, the expulsion of the Palestinians, and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements.

The government is continuing to hold talks with several countries about resettling Palestinians displaced from Gaza, including South Sudan.

As part of efforts to encourage the 'voluntary' migration of Palestinians, Defence Minister Israel Katz has floated a plan that would see the entire population confined to a camp to be built on the ruins of Rafah.

What has happened so far?

The Israeli military has intensified its air assault on the city in the days since the plan was approved, killing dozens of people each day and forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Warplanes have pummelled the eastern and southern suburbs of Zeitoun and Tuffah, causing widespread devastation.

Attacks have also hit the previously upscale area of Rimal, next to the coast, and the central district of Sabra. An airstrike hit the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in the heart of the old city on Sunday, killing at least seven.

In Zeitoun, thousands of families have been forced to flee the bombardment.