British Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters has cautioned Israel against going ahead with a full-on occupation of the enclave, which Israeli PM Netanyahu is reportedly expected to approve this evening, Al Jazeera reports.

The Israeli military “has done all that it can do in Gaza — it’s not going to achieve any more by fighting any longer,” said Walters in comments carried by the Times of Israel newspaper. “Extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths — deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, and, likely, deaths of hostages.”

He went on to say that ousting Hamas is only possible through “politics and diplomacy, and giving Gazans an alternative [authority] to Hamas” in postwar Gaza.