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This answer may well be overtaken by events, but insofar there's no definitive answer, as far as I can tell.

According to commentators, Netanayahu previously has been reluctant to engage in ground incursions, preferring air strikes. He might not be able to stick just with that this time given the magnitude of the Hamas attacks.

In a previous case when Israeli troops did go into Gaza, i.e. 2014, their goals were mainly to find and destroy the tunnel network [parts] that could not be found & hit from the air. (Netanyahu was also PM back then, so clearly he's not completely against ground incursions.)

However, this time, some Israeli army spokesperson has hinted at potentially broader goals, saying that Hamas cannot be allowed to stay in power or even 'live'. (N.B., also quoted by VOA as saying "we are also to make sure that Hamas will not be able to govern the Gaza Strip".) They've [insofar] not said however how Israel is going to achieve these desiderata, i.e. just by air or what extent of ground attacks they envisage etc. Netanyahu himself has used strong terms like "defeat to death" of Hamas (sounds a little awkward in English, maybe someone has a better translation).

More recent reports say Israel has called "up to" 300,000 reservists and amassed troops on the border with Gaza, suggesting a large scale ground operation is going to take place, eventually. (FWTW, back in 2014, Israel called up much fewer reservists--they announced at most 40,000 back then.) Also, the US has called the recent attacks by Hamas, "ISIS-level savagery", suggesting they'd greenlight a similar level of measures that they had taken against ISIS, i.e. [near] total destruction of the group and its leadership, and depriving them [or any remnants] of the ability to control any significant territory, like the combined air-ground campaign against ISIS ended.

Also, a bit more recently, Netanyahu said Hamas is "worse than Daesh [ISIS]" and that "Every Hamas member is a dead man." So that seems to be the ideal goal for his government right now. Whether that's realistic remains to be seen. But he seems to have fairly broad political support for that, e.g.:

Mr Gantz told Israeli citizens that the newly-formed government was "united" and ready to "wipe this thing called Hamas off the face of the Earth".


As for more recent developments, the IDF has pounded Gaza with thousands of bombs, reducing some entire neighborhoods to rubble. The Economist estimated about a week ago (Oct 19) that

At least 4.3% of the enclave’s buildings appear to have been destroyed.

According to the maps included, most of the destruction was concentrated on specific areas, insofar closer to the Israeli border, like Beit Hanoun (pictured below).

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UNITAR estimates building destruction/damage, which insofar have been focused on some specific areas (Deir al-Balah Governorate--which is south of the Israeli ordered evacuation area) put the number to under 2% in those. (UNITAR is notoriously famous for rather strict[er] standards as to what counts as destroyed.)

The "24 hrs" evacuation order for north Gaza [issued] on Oct 13 appears to have been some 2/3 successful, according to PBS with some 700,000 Palestinians moving south but 350,000 still remaining in the north, by Oct 26.

Also, virtually the entire strip appears to be without power, with the exception of some isolated buildings, according to satellite images taken at night, which recorded a 90% reduction in illumination.

And the IDF has launched some probing ground attacks (which some called them raids). That has yet to reveal what they'll ultimately settle for though.