Israel: Netanyahu's Deadly Plan to Seize Gaza Approved

MIDDLE EAST 08.08.25 07:32

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A stormy Israeli Security Cabinet meeting concluded in the early hours of the morning, approving a plan for a full military occupation of the Gaza Strip. The operation is expected to last at least six months. Even the Chief of Staff of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) reportedly opposed the plan. Families of hostages reacted immediately, protesting the decision.

Netanyahu, in an interview with Fox News, stated: “We intend, in order to ensure our security, to remove Hamas from there, to allow the population to be liberated from Gaza, and to transfer its administration to a political authority that will not be Hamas, nor anyone who supports the destruction of Israel.” He continued, “We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the terrible terror of Hamas.” However, Netanyahu also added that Israel “doesn’t want to hold it.” “We want to create a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing force,” he concluded.

Netanyahu's office issued a statement detailing the approved plan for the takeover of Gaza City and outlining “five principles for ending the war,” which the cabinet reportedly approved by a majority vote. The statement includes:

• Disarmament of Hamas.
• Return of all hostages – alive or dead.
• Demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
• Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip.
• Existence of an alternative political administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

The statement concludes, “The vast majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the Council would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the abducted.” The plan, proposed by Benjamin Netanyahu and discussed at the meeting, includes the blockade of Gaza City and the relocation of approximately one million residents to the southern part of the Strip. According to a senior Israeli official quoted in The Jerusalem Post, the army will “target terrorist strongholds in the city,” with operations later extending to the main refugee camps.

Opposition from the IDF Chief of Staff

Netanyahu made his statements to Fox News before meeting with a small group of senior ministers where plans for taking military control of more areas of Gaza were discussed. The Security Council meeting followed a meeting earlier in the week with the army chief, which Israeli officials described as tense, saying the head of the armed forces opposed expanding the campaign.

Polls show that most Israelis want the war to end with an agreement that leads to the release of the remaining hostages held by Palestinian fighters led by Hamas. However, the Netanyahu government insists on a complete victory over Hamas. The idea, particularly promoted by right-wing ministers in Netanyahu's governing coalition, of advancing Israeli forces into areas of Gaza not already under their control, has caused concern within Israel.

Immediate Reaction from Hostage Families

Families and supporters of the hostages demonstrated against Israeli plans to seize the Gaza Strip outside Benjamin Netanyahu's office while the council was in session. Some protesters chained themselves together outside the building, warning that the escalation of the conflict in Gaza “is a death sentence and the immediate disappearance of our loved ones.”

Netanyahu Interview: We Want to Gain Control of Gaza. Not to Govern It

In an interview given a few hours before the cabinet meeting, the Israeli Prime Minister stated that his country intends to take military control of the entire Palestinian enclave. "We intend to do so," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire Strip. He said the goal is to ensure "our security, remove Hamas from there, liberate the population of Gaza, and hand it over to a political government that will not be Hamas and will not support the destruction of Israel."

According to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinians do not want Hamas and are "fighting it because they see that they have a future," adding that Hamas, "this terrible tyrant," as he called it, "holds not only our hostages but also two million Palestinians in Gaza hostage." "That's what we want to do. We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the horrific terror of Hamas," he added. However, he maintained that Israel does not intend to govern. "We don't want to hold it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body," he added. "We want to hand it over to Arab forces who will govern it properly, without threatening us, and give the inhabitants of Gaza a good life," the Israeli Prime Minister further stated.