An Israeli government minister has vowed that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” as a result of an Israeli military victory, and that its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries”, raising fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territory.

The declaration on Tuesday by the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, came a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”.

The Israeli threats to seize control of the territory permanently has stirred global outrage.

“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s operations,” the UK’s Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said. “Any attempt to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable.”

After the intensified offensive was announced, Hamas said it was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza, a reference to the total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza, which has been in place for more than two months.

“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told AFP.

Effie Defrin, Israel’s chief military spokesperson, said the planned offensive would include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip … to protect them”.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the “population will be moved, for its own protection” in a video posted on social media, but gave no further details.

Smotrich, speaking to a conference on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, went further, making clear that many Palestinians would be driven out of the territory altogether, as part of a scorched earth offensive.

“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,” the minister said.

Israel’s neighbours Egypt and Jordan have said they will refuse to allow an exodus of refugees on their territory, arguing that would make them party to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

The international court of justice is assessing allegations of genocide against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza, and last year issued a series of provisional measures that included orders for Israel to “take all measures” to prevent genocide being committed or incited, and to allow the “unhindered provision” of humanitarian assistance across the territory’s southern border with Egypt.

The international criminal court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and the ICC prosecutor is reported to be preparing more warrant requests.

“Smotrich has been saying similar things for some time now, but obviously this is very serious in the context of the call for more troops by the government,” Victor Kattan, assistant professor in public international law at the University of Nottingham, said.

“Deportation and forcible transfer of civilians is a crime against humanity under the Rome statute [the ICC’s founding treaty], and that’s a clear call for that. If that’s occurring in the context of his ministerial position or as a result of deliberations in the cabinet, that could be very serious.”

Late on Tuesday, at least 22 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, said Gaza’s civil defence agency.

Dozens more were wounded in the attack on Bureij camp in the centre of the territory, civil defence media officer Ahmad Radwan told AFP.

The call for an intensification of Israel’s war in Gaza came as it carried out a second day of airstrikes aimed at Houthi forces in Yemen, severely damaging the country’s international airport in the capital, Sana’a.

The strikes came after Israel launched similar attacks on Monday in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike the previous day on Israel’s international airport.

Nearly all of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced, often repeatedly, since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted another 250.

More than 52,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza that followed. A two-month ceasefire collapsed in mid-March when Israel reneged on a promise to implement a second phase.

Faltering indirect talks have continued since, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, but with little sign of any significant progress. Any breakthrough appears unlikely as long as Israel remains committed to forcing Hamas to disarm, and Hamas refuses to release hostages without a ceasefire leading to a permanent end to hostilities as well as a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Some analysts suggest Israel’s threats of the new offensive, occupation of territory and massive displacement are designed to force concessions from Hamas, as well as shore up rightwing support for Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

Hamas on Monday described the new Israeli framework for aid delivery in Gaza as “political blackmail” and blamed Israel for the war-ravaged territory’s “humanitarian catastrophe”.

A UN spokesperson said on Monday that António Guterres, the UN secretary general, was “alarmed” by the Israeli plan that “will inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza”.

Humanitarian officials say the territory is on the brink of catastrophe as food and fuel runs out due to a total Israeli blockade imposed on 2 March.

Military officials in Israel have given different versions of a plan reportedly agreed by ministers to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, which would be distributed from a small number of newly constructed hubs in the south of the territory staffed by private contractors but protected by Israeli troops.

Humanitarian officials have dismissed the scheme as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful.

“The design of the plan presented to us will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies,” a joint statement by UN and other aid agencies said this week.

“It contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy.

“It is dangerous, driving civilians into militarised zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers, while further entrenching forced displacement.”

Stephen Cutts, the interim head of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said: “Israel’s proposed military-controlled aid mechanism is a dangerous attempt to weaponise humanitarian aid, entrench further control over Gaza, and continue its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

US officials have not reacted directly to Israel’s threat of a new offensive, but Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration would help get food to “starving” Palestinians. He blamed Hamas for making it “impossible” by diverting humanitarian assistance for its fighters.

“We’re going to help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving, and we’re going to help them get some food,” Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.

Israeli officials have said the new operation will not be launched before Trump concludes his visit next week to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.