Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City was approved by the Security Cabinet on Friday morning.
(photo credit: FLASH90/CANVA, REUTERS, SHUTTERSTOCK)
Israel’s Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to occupy Gaza City, Axios’s Barak Ravid reported on X/Twitter on Friday morning, citing an unidentified Israeli official.
“The security cabinet approved the prime minister’s proposal to defeat Hamas. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Ravid later cited the Prime Minister’s Office as saying.
The plan, proposed by Netanyahu and deliberated in the meeting on Thursday-Friday overnight, includes encircling Gaza City and relocating around one million residents to the southern part of the enclave.
Following this, a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that the military would “target the terrorist strongholds in the city,” with operations later expanding to the central refugee camps.
Israel, with support from the United States and additional international partners, intends to flood Gaza with humanitarian aid, up to four times the current volume.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the United States plans to open 16 humanitarian aid centers, modeled after those operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Occupation op. expected to last at least six months
The operation is expected to take at least six months. A senior official told the Post that Netanyahu is “determined that this is the only path to defeating Hamas.” In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, the prime minister stated: “We intend to militarily take over the entire Gaza Strip, dismantle Hamas, and transfer control to another authority.”
Regarding whether the Trump administration supports the move, a US official told the Post that “Israel is to decide what it needs to do for its own security.”
The IDF will “continue to express our position without fear,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Thursday, in first comments made since reports of disagreements between the military and the government on a proposed complete occupation of the Gaza Strip.
“We are dealing with matters of life and death in the defense of the country, and we do so while looking toward our soldiers and the civilians of Israel,” Zamir said Thursday, just a few hours before the security cabinet meeting.
“We will continue to act with responsibility, integrity, and determination, with only the security and well-being of Israel in mind,” he said.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post