Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza and will eventually hand it over to armed forces that will govern it.
“We intend to,” said the Israeli PM in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip.
“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.”
Opinion polls show that most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would mean the release of remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu’s government has insisted on total victory over the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel.
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The idea of Israeli forces pushing into areas they do not already control in the shattered Palestinian enclave has generated alarm in Israel. The mother of one hostage on Thursday urged people to take to the streets to voice their opposition to expanding the campaign.
“Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesn’t go and conquer the Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger,” Einav Zangauker wrote on X in comments directed at Mr Netanyahu.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents captives held in Gaza, urged military chief of staff Eyal Zamir to oppose expanding the war and called on the government to accept a deal that would bring the war to an end and free the remaining hostages.
Defence minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the military would carry out the government’s decisions until all war objectives were achieved. Israeli leaders have long insisted that Hamas be disarmed and have no future role in a demilitarised Gaza and that the hostages be freed.
The UN has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.
There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far came about as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have meant some hostages released collapsed in July.
A senior Palestinian official said Hamas had told Arab mediators that an increase in humanitarian aid entering Gaza would lead to a resumption in ceasefire negotiations.
Israeli officials accuse Hamas of seizing aid to hand out to its fighters and to sell in Gazan markets to finance its operations, accusations that the organisation denies.
Videos released last week of two living hostages showed them emaciated and frail, triggering international condemnation.
Famine unfolding in Gaza: ‘Children are eating grass and weeds at the side of the road'
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only parts, insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war. Israel says the group has no intention of going through with promises to give up power afterwards.
The Israeli military says it controls about 75 per cent of Gaza. Most of the enclave’s population of about two million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning that the enclave’s residents are on the verge of famine.
“Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough,” said Aya Mohammad (30), who, after repeated displacement, has returned with her family to their community in Gaza City.
“You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine,” she said.
Close to 200 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began, nearly half of them have been children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Rabeeha Jamal (65), a mother of six, has remained in her house in Gaza despite warnings in the past from the Israeli military to leave. For now, she said she intends to stay.
“Not until they force us, if the tanks roll in, otherwise, I will not go running in the street to be killed later,” she said, calling for an end to the war. “We don’t have anywhere to go.”
Mr Netanyahu is under intense international pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement, but he also faces internal pressure from within his coalition to continue the war. Some far-right allies in his government have pushed for a full occupation of Gaza and for Israel to re-establish settlements there, 20 years after it withdrew.
Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday that he hoped the government would approve the military taking control over the rest of Gaza.
About 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken to Gaza in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities, according to Israel.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which said 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire across the enclave in the past 24 hours. – Reuters
