Israel's far-right finance minister has demanded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrap his plan to seize Gaza City in favour of a tougher one, while Italy said on Sunday the plan could result in a "Vietnam" for Israel's army.

Bezalel Smotrich, the hard-line finance minister, said that Israel needed to move more decisively and quickly to defeat Hamas.

Israel's security cabinet has approved plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli military to occupy Gaza City, in an expansion of military operations that comes amid international condemnation of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.