On Friday (August 8), Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupy Gaza City to enact “Israeli security control” over the entire Gaza Strip. His office made the announcement in a post on X, formerly Twitter shortly afterward, also claiming that a “decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the Security Cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.”
Gaza City is in the northern part of the 26-mile Gaza Strip, where almost two million Palestinians have gathered after 22 months of intense Israeli military strikes that have occupied 75 percent of Gaza and resulted in causing famine-like conditions for those on the ground. The international community immediately called for Israel to abandon its plans and return to ceasefire talks.
“The Israeli Government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza strip must be immediately halted,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement. “It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination.”
Netanyahu spoke about the decision in an interview with Fox News on Thursday (August 7), where he affrimed the nation’s intent, which would place the nearly two million Palestinians in the region at further risk. “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly,” he stated. There has been stiff opposition from Israeli citizens including a group of the relatives of those still being held hostage by Hamas who call the new plan a “death sentence” according to ABC News reporting.
When questioned about the possible approval of the plans earlier in the week, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated, “Reporting is one thing. Real plans might be another. We are not in the business of interpreting statements from foreign governments when and if they’re made. We do remain focused on freeing the hostages, including the remains of two Americans, and ensuring that Hamas never rules Gaza again.” The Trump administration has largely backed Netanyahu and Israel, along with the majority of the Republican Party.
