Israel has informed Egypt of plans to launch a military operation to take control between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.

Citing Israeli and Egyptian officials, the WSJ said Israel is expected to take over the Rafah crossing and station forces along the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Egypt and Gaza.

Israeli officials told the WSJ that the operation has not received the go-ahead from Israeli leaders and depends on talks with the Egyptian government as Cairo works to broker a new hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.

“Israel does not want to be responsible for Gaza in the long term, but the question is how do you make sure that Gaza stays demilitarised?” a senior Israeli military official told the WSJ. “It’s a real dilemma. The only way to control a geographic area is to control what’s going in and out.”