Israel’s political and military leaders are divided over how, when and even whether to invade Gaza while troops are massed and ready at the border and described as ready to move, according to seven senior military officers and three Israeli officials, the New York Times reported.

In part, they say, the delay is intended to give negotiators more time to try to secure the release of some of the more than 200 hostages held by Hamas.

However, as the NYT reports, Israeli leaders have yet to agree on how to do it, although the military says it is ready to launch the operation as early as Friday.

Some fear an invasion could lock the IDF into an intractable urban battle inside Gaza, while others fear a wider conflict with Hezbollah, which would fire long-range rockets into Israeli cities.

There is also the debate over whether to invade through one large operation or a series of smaller ones, as well as the post-war era with questions being raised about who would rule Gaza if Israel occupied it.

“This is a cabinet with different views,” said Danny Danon, a senior lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party.

“Some would say that we should start and then we can think about the next stage” said Danon, a member of the foreign affairs and defense committee in the Israeli parliament. “But we as a leadership, as politicians, have to set the goals and the goals have to be very clear,” he said.

And while there is little internal disagreement, the report continues, about delaying the ground offensive for a short time in order to continue hostage negotiations, there is disagreement between the military staff and parts of Netanyahu’s government over what should be done if negotiations fail.

The military leadership has already finalized the plan for the invasion, but is furious that Netanyahu refuses to sign it, in part because he wants unanimous approval from members of the war cabinet he formed after the October 7 attack.

Analysts believe Netanyahu is wary of unilaterally giving the go-ahead because of his low public approval ratings and fear of being blamed if the operation fails.

The ambiguity appears to reflect disagreements in the cabinet over whether to allow a full-scale invasion of Gaza, which could pit ground troops in a terrifying urban battle against thousands of Hamas fighters holed up in a network of hundreds of miles of tunnels dug deep beneath Gaza City.

Instead, ministers are also considering a less ambitious plan involving several small-scale incursions that would target a small part of the enclave at a time.