Netanyahu Has Now Said Israel Will Fully Take Over The Gaza Strip, A Plan His Security Cabinet Approved
Hours later, Israel’s security cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan for a gradual military takeover of all of Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel intends to take full control of Gaza, a plan his security cabinet approved just hours later.
“We intend to,” Neteanyahu told Fox News in an interview when asked if Israel would take over control of the entire Gaza Strip on Thursday, August 7.
Netanyahu said the move would “assure our security” and that he wants Israel to maintain security in the Strip, remove Hamas and then pass governance of Gaza to Arab forces.
He did not specify which Arab countries he wanted to be involved in governing Gaza or whether he intended to let the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, be in charge of Gaza.
Hours later, in the early hours of Friday, Aug. 8, Israel’s security cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan for a gradual military takeover of all of Gaza.
After 10 hours of discussions, the majority of Netanyahu’s security cabinet decided to back his proposal to first take control of Gaza City in northern Gaza before pushing into central Gaza.
The majority of the infrastructure in Gaza City, once the Strip's most populous city with more than 750,000 residents, has already been destroyed after 22 months of Israel’s genocide.
A ground invasion on Gaza City would reportedly further expel tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, according to Al Jazeera.
"The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," Netanyahu said in a statement after the meeting.
The Israeli military has warned against Netanyahu’s plan, saying that further military expansion could endanger the lives of Israeli hostages, saying “most and possibly all of the living hostages [will] die”, according to the BBC.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has now killed more than 61,258 people, with Palestinians facing the “worst-case scenario of famine” due to Israel’s blockade.
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