Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced early Friday that the Security Cabinet had approved a plan to take control of Gaza City as part of a broader operation to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.
According to the statement, the army will provide humanitarian aid to civilians outside combat zones. Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Netanyahu as saying that the current operations in Gaza were “a failure” and had not succeeded in freeing the hostages, stressing that the goal was “to defeat Hamas, not preserve it.”
Israeli media reports stated that the plan involves besieging Hamas fighters in Gaza City and later expanding the operation toward the central refugee camps, with civilians to be evacuated from the city before October 7.
Haaretz quoted an official as saying that the decision does not currently include occupying the central camps, while Knesset member Amit Halevi confirmed that the ultimate plan aims at taking control of the entire strip.
