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Israel’s military is set to “take control” of Gaza City as outlined in a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accepted by his security cabinet, his office announced on Friday.
Nearly two years into the conflict in Gaza, Netanyahu is experiencing increasing pressure both domestically and internationally for a ceasefire to help pull the more than two million residents of the territory back from the edge of famine and release the hostages held by Palestinian militias.
As part of the strategy to “defeat” Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to civilians outside of combat areas,” stated the prime minister’s office.
Before this decision, Netanyahu said that Israel intended to take complete control of Gaza but had no plans to govern it. He added that the military would assume full command of the region, where conflict with Hamas has been ongoing since the militant group assaulted Israel on October 7, 2023.
He emphasised that Israel does not wish to “retain” the Gaza Strip, which it occupied in 1967 but withdrew from in 2005.
His office indicated on Friday that a majority of the security cabinet had endorsed “five principles” aimed at concluding the war: “disarming Hamas; returning all hostages — both alive and deceased; demilitarizing the Gaza Strip; establishing Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; and creating an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
An unspecified “alternative plan” was dismissed by the cabinet, it added.
The Israeli army reported last month that it had authority over 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip, primarily from its positions along the border.
An intensified Israeli offensive in Gaza may lead to ground troops operating in densely populated zones where hostages are thought to be held, according to Israeli media reports.
The plans for escalating the conflict have raised increasing worries in Israel regarding the implications for the remaining hostages.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the cabinet’s decision on Friday, labelling it “a disaster that will result in numerous additional disasters.”
International apprehension has been growing concerning the hardships faced by Palestinians in Gaza, where a UN-supported assessment has cautioned that famine is developing.
The World Health Organisation reported that at least 99 individuals have died from malnutrition in the area this year, although this number is likely underestimated.
In late July, it partially loosened restrictions on aid entering Gaza, but the United Nations asserts that the volume allowed into the region is still inadequate. The UN estimates that Gaza requires a minimum of 600 trucks of aid daily to satisfy its residents’ basic needs.
Israeli offensives have resulted in at least 61,258 Palestinian deaths, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
