The Israeli security cabinet approved a plan on Friday morning that will allow Israel to take military control of Gaza City, the first step in what could become a broader operation to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.
Israel’s goal in the expanded operation is to achieve decisive victory over Hamas while delivering humanitarian aid “outside of combat zones,” the council said in a statement after their ten-hour meeting.
The cabinet’s five guidelines for ending the war include Hamas’s disarmament, the return of the remaining 50 hostages, 20 of whom are believed alive, Gaza’s demilitarization, Israeli security control over the Gaza strip, and establishing a governing body in Gaza not run by Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
The approved plan stops short of a full takeover of the Gaza Strip, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Thursday comment that Israel intends to reach that goal eventually.
Asked by Fox News’ Bill Hemmer ahead of the meeting whether Israel intends to take control of the entirety of the 26-mile strip, Netanyahu responded “we intend to.”
“We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” Netanyahu said. The prime minister stipulated that Israel does not want to retain control of Gaza in the long term, saying “we don’t want to keep it. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces.”
The decision comes as cease-fire talks stall in the wake of U.S.-mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas breaking down late last month.
Members of Israel’s military cabinet have expressed fears that seizing control of all of Gaza could endanger the remaining Israeli hostages and result in heavy casualties among Israeli troops, thousands of whom will be called up from reserve duty to participate in the expanded operation.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that an Israeli takeover of Gaza was “really up to Israel.”
International pressure on Israel to end the war has mounted in recent months, as reports about the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza circulate. Numerous nations, including the European Union, the U.K., and France, have promised that if Israel does not end the war and increase the amount of humanitarian aid headed into Gaza, they will declare support for a Palestinian state.
Such international support “encourages and rewards” Hamas, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week.
“Because at the end of the day Hamas is sitting there saying: ‘we’re winning the PR war,’” Rubio said. “‘We’ve got all these countries lining up on our side of this argument. We’ve got leverage now. We shouldn’t agree to anything. We should keep this thing going.’”
“They don’t care about how many people die in Gaza.”
Although Netanyahu has not released specifics of the plan to take over Gaza, various Israeli media reports say that Phase I of the plan would first include evacuating and seizing Gaza City, then expanding aid distribution centers, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure in central Gaza for Palestinian civilians. Phase II would include a military operation in Gaza to fully eliminate Hamas and search for the remaining 50 hostages.
Thousands of Israeli troops will enter Gaza to take part in the ground offensive if Israel continues with the planned military operation. Israel has already conquered 75 percent of Gaza, the military said.
It could take only months to conquer the remaining part of Gaza, but perhaps years of sustained combat to gain full security control and establish a civilian administration.