
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said on social media that the Israel Defense Forces will prepare to take over Gaza City and to provide aid to civilians outside the areas of fighting.
The full post on X (translated from Hebrew) reads:
The Political-Security Cabinet approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for the defeat of Hamas.
The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.
Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City after he earlier said the country intended to take full control of the entire Gaza Strip.
The decision early on Friday marks another escalation of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu said Israel planned to retake control over the whole territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel’s top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel’s army after nearly two years of regional wars, the Associated Press reports.
Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones.
A Hamas official was reported as telling the Al Jazeera Mubasher television network that the militant group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza per Netanyahu’s suggestion as an “occupying” force linked the Israel. And in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
In key developments:
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Before the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu was asked on Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza” and he replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” The Israeli prime minister said: “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
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Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was hoping to obtain approval for fully controlling Gaza at the security cabinet meeting. The plan would mean sending ground troops into the few areas of the strip that have not been totally destroyed – roughly 25% of the territory where many of its 2 million people have sought refuge.
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Israel was reportedly preparing a two-phase operation aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, with plans to evacuate about 1 million residents – half of Gaza’s population – in what officials described as a temporary measure to establish civilian infrastructure in central Gaza.
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The proposal was being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation, according to Israel’s Channel 12. The chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
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At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Of the 42, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that 99 people were known to have died from malnutrition in Gaza this year and the figure was probably an underestimate, amid famine warnings from UN agencies.
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The families of the roughly 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza have called for Israelis to protest against the government and a decision they fear would endanger the lives of their loved ones.