Israel’s defense minister warned Friday that the “gates of hell” will soon open up to destroy Gaza City if Hamas doesn’t agree to Israel’s terms for a cease-fire.

The ominous threat came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorize Israeli troops to mount a major operation to seize the Palestinian enclave’s largest city — while denying a global hunger monitor’s declaration that the region is already suffering a famine.

“Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote in a post on X.

“If they do not agree – Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun. Exactly as I promised – so it shall be,” he added, referring to two areas reduced to rubble early in the war.

Israel is demanding the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament to bring an end to the bloodshed.

Hamas, however, has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the nearly two-year-old war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.

The wide-scale operation in Gaza City could start within days after the Israel Defense Forces called up an additional 60,000 reservists this week.

Netanyahu has insisted his offensive plan is the surest way to free captives and crush Hamas.

“These two things — defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages — go hand in hand,” Netanyahu said Thursday.

Thousands of Palestinians have already fled their homes as Israeli tanks have edged closer to Gaza City over the last 10 days.

It comes as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitor, said Friday that roughly 514,000 people — nearly a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza — are experiencing famine.

The number is due to rise to 641,000 by the end of September, the assessment warned.

It marks the first time the IPC has recorded famine outside southern Africa — namely Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Israel dismissed the assessment as false and biased, arguing the IPC based its determination on partial data provided by Hamas, which failed to account for a recent influx of food and aid.

“There is no famine in Gaza,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

For a region to be officially classified as in famine, at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages — with one in three kids severely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation and disease.

Still, even if a region hasn’t yet been classified as in famine because those thresholds have not been met, the IPC can determine that households there are suffering famine-like conditions, including starvation, destitution and death.

Calling for an immediate cease-fire, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the Gaza famine as a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself.”

“People are starving. Children are dying. And those with the duty to act are failing … We cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity,” he said in a statement.

The IPC analysis comes after President Trump last month said many people were starving in Gaza — putting him at odds with Netanyahu, who has repeatedly claimed there was no starvation and blamed Hamas for the lack of food.

With Post wires