Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel plans to take full control of Gaza but does not intend to govern it, as he convened his security Cabinet to discuss updated plans 22 months into the war.
The Cabinet meeting comes as Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce deal to pull Gaza’s more than two million people back from the brink of famine and to spare hostages held by Palestinian militants.
With tensions rising, Netanyahu told US network Fox News his government intends to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, where the military has been fighting Hamas since the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Asked if Israel will take control of “all of Gaza”, Netanyahu said: “We intend to.”
He was expected to seek the security Cabinet’s approval for the expanded offensive, which will see the army operate in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, Israeli media reported.
Netanyahu told Fox News “we don’t want to keep” the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers in 2005.
“We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it,” Netanyahu said.
“We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. That’s not possible with Hamas.”
The reported plans to expand the war have sparked growing concern in Israel about what it means for the remaining hostages.
As the Cabinet meeting kicked off, hundreds rallied near the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, calling for a deal to free the hostages.
“The only way to bring the hostages home is to halt the war and end the suffering of the hostages and all those living through this terrible conflict,” said protester Sharon Kangasa-Cohen.
Hamas in a statement said that “Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda”.
This week, relatives of hostages set sail from the port of Ashkelon seeking to approach the Gaza Strip where their loved ones have endured 22 months of captivity.
Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas’ 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead.
Before Netanyahu’s announcement, rumours had been rife in the Israeli press about disagreements between the cabinet and Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir, who is said to oppose plans to fully reoccupy Gaza.
This week, Defence Minister Israel Katz had weighed in on social media saying the military must ultimately respect any policies adopted by the government.
In a statement released by the military Thursday, Zamir underscored his independence, vowing to “continue to express our position without fear”.
“We are dealing with matters of life and death ... and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and citizens,” Zamir said.
In Gaza, meanwhile, fears grew over what an expansion of Israeli operations would entail.
“Ground operations mean more destruction and death,” said Ahmad Salem, 45.
International concern has also been growing over the suffering of the more than two million Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza, after the United Nations warned that famine was unfolding in the territory.
The World Health Organisation said at least 99 people were now known to have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip so far this year, with the figure likely an underestimate.
Displaced Gazan Mahmoud Wafi said that the prices of available food remained high and erratic.
“We hope that food will be made available again in normal quantities and at reasonable prices, because we can no longer afford these extremely high and unrealistic costs,” the 38-year-old told AFP.
In late July, Israel partially eased restrictions on aid entering Gaza, but the United Nations says the amount allowed into the territory remains insufficient.
Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that lengthy inspection procedures at entry points meant few trucks could come in.
“What is currently entering the Gaza Strip are very limited numbers of trucks – between 70 to 80 per day – carrying only specific types of goods,” he said.
The United Nations estimates that Gaza needs at least 600 trucks of aid per day to meet its residents’ basic needs.
Amid the shortages, bloodshed continued with Gaza’s civil defence agency saying Israeli attacks across the territory on Thursday killed at least 35 people.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 61,258 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.
The 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
– Agence France-Presse