Early on Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City. This plan comes as the country expands its military operations despite increasing criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, “The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” referring to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
On Thursday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel intended to take control of the entire Gaza Strip; however, the plan approved on Friday focused specifically on the largest city in the enclave, Gaza City.
According to an Israeli official cited by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, the plan involved evacuating Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and launching ground offensive in the area.
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Netanyahu told Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer in an interview on Thursday that they intend to take over the entire coastal territory.
The Prime Minister of Israel said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces to govern it, but he did not explain the governance arrangements or the Arab countries involved.
He said, “We don’t want to keep 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.”
According to Israeli officials, previous meetings with the head of the military were tense. They said military chief Eyal Zamir had pushed back on expanding Israel’s campaign.
One government source said scenarios being considered ahead of the security meeting included a phased takeover of areas in Gaza not yet under military control.
The source also said evacuation warnings could be delivered to Palestinians in specific areas of Gaza, possibly giving them several weeks before the military moves in.
In the statement released on Friday, the office of the Prime Minister said the vast majority of the political-security cabinet members believed that “the alternative plan presented in the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.”
Any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday, according to two government sources.
