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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City.
Netanyahu’s office said the plan had been approved in a translated post to social media X.
“The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
It comes after Netanyahu said Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating war in the Palestinian enclave.

“We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer when asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal territory.

“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,” Netanyahu said.
He said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. He did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.

Netanyahu made the comments to Fox News overnight, shortly before a meeting he was due to have with a small group of senior ministers on the expansion of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

Australia reacts to the plan

Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on Israel “not to go down” that path, saying it would only worsen the “humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
Wong said permanent forced displacement was a violation of international law.
Greens senator David Shoebridge called on the government to impose sanctions on Israel similar to those rolled out against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“After two years of inaction, this must be a red line for the Albanese government,” he said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Michaelia Cash said Israel should comply with international law, but that the “operational tactics and how this war is conducted on the ground to bring it to an end is ultimately a matter for the Israeli government”.

A woman with cropped silver hair in a black blazer is speaking.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia is urging Israel not to “go down the path” of a full occupation of Gaza. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

The security cabinet session follows another meeting this week with the head of the military, which Israeli officials described as tense, saying the military chief had pushed back on expanding the campaign.

Total control of the territory would reverse a 2005 decision by Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens and soldiers from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, airspace and utilities. Right-wing parties blame that withdrawal decision for the militant Palestinian group Hamas gaining power there in a 2006 election.
It was unclear whether Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged takeover or a short-term operation aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages.

A UN commission of inquiry found in 2022 the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was unlawful. Then-Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid disputed the claim.

Hamas, in a statement, called Netanyahu’s comments “a blatant coup” against the negotiation process.
“Netanyahu’s plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them,” the statement said.
Arab countries would “only support what Palestinians agree and decide on,” a Jordanian official source told Reuters, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through “legitimate Palestinian institutions”.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an “occupying” force linked to Israel.
Earlier this year, Israel and the United States rejected an Egyptian proposal, backed by Arab leaders, that envisaged the creation of an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza after the war.
A map shows the Israeli militarised zone around Gaza.

Source: SBS News

Opinion polls show most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would result in the release of the remaining hostages.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. US President Donald Trump declined on Wednesday to say whether he supported or opposed a potential full military takeover of Gaza by Israel.
Netanyahu’s government has insisted on total victory over Hamas, which escalated the conflict when it attacked Israel in October 2023.
The United Nations has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.

The idea, pushed especially by far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition, of Israeli forces moving into areas they do not already hold in the enclave has also generated alarm in Israel.

Protesters demand an end to the war

Outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, hundreds of demonstrators protested against an expanded war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all the hostages.
Protesters held signs bearing the faces of hostages still held in Gaza and voiced deep frustration with the government’s handling of the crisis.

“I’m here because I am sick and tired of this government. It’s ruined our life,” said 55-year-old Noa Starkman, a Jerusalem resident who was born in a southern Israeli community close to where Hamas attacked in October 2023.

The Hostages Families Forum, which represents captives held in Gaza, urged military chief of staff Eyal Zamir to oppose widening the war. Defence minister Israel Katz said the military would carry out the government’s decisions until all war objectives were achieved.
There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks towards a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July.
A senior Palestinian official said Hamas had told Arab mediators an increase in humanitarian aid entering Gaza would lead to a resumption in ceasefire negotiations.
Israeli officials accuse Hamas of seizing aid to hand on to its fighters and selling it to finance its operations, accusations the militant group denies.
An internal US government analysis, conducted by a bureau within the US Agency for International Development in late June, found no evidence of systematic theft of US-funded humanitarian supplies by Hamas.
Separately, the European Commission has said it has found no reports of Hamas stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza.

‘Where should we go?’

Hamas, which has governed Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only fragmented 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 Gaza’s population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning 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.
This echoed comments from Netanyahu, who said last week: “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.”
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