Israel's Security Cabinet endorsed a plan to take control of Gaza City, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Friday. The cabinet made the decision early in the morning, which is another step in Israel's almost two-year operation, initiated as a response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
The war already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed the majority of Gaza, and put its residents—around 2 million—on the verge of starvation.
Before the Security Cabinet meeting overnight on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel aimed to recapture complete control of Gaza and ultimately hand responsibility over to friendly Arab forces that are against Hamas. The Friday announcement falls short of the complete takeover, a clue that military leaders' reservations—specifically regarding the safety of the approximately 20 surviving hostages and the army's overextended capacity after months of war—may have had a say in the decision.
Hostage families, as well as Israel's most senior general, have expressed fierce opposition to the plan on the grounds that it could threaten the lives of the captives. Gaza City has been attacked repeatedly by Israeli bombs and incursions, yet the militants have been able to reorganize each time. In contrast with other areas of Gaza which have been transformed into buffer zones or subjected to evacuation notices, areas of Gaza City still contain inhabitants.
A comprehensive ground campaign would displace an additional tens of thousands and complicate already strained food distribution efforts. The number of remaining residents is unknown; many had left early in the conflict but a few returned during a temporary ceasefire earlier this year.
Critics—including some former senior security officials—alert that further enlarging military efforts threatens to further isolate Israel internationally, with little further military gain. Israel presently occupies about three-quarters of Gaza's land.
Speaking to Fox News prior to the meeting, Netanyahu stated: "We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza… We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life."
Nonetheless, Israeli military commander Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir was said to have cautioned against taking over Gaza wholesale due to the threat to hostages and the burden on soldiers.
Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack killed approximately 1,200 in Israel and resulted in 251 kidnappings. Although the majority of hostages have now been released, some 50 are still in Gaza—20 of them presumed to be alive.
The Gaza Health Ministry, generally regarded as the most trusted source for casualty counts, has documented more than 61,000 Palestinian fatalities since hostilities broke out. Israel rejects these numbers but offers no other count. Thursday saw a minimum of 42 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks and gunfire in southern Gaza.
Thirteen of the casualties died while in pursuit of assistance in an Israeli-held area in the south, where U.N. convoys are frequently besieged by looters and desperate groups. Two were also killed on roads to camps operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American contractor supported by Israel.
GHF refutes violent attacks at its facilities, but Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released a blistering report blaming the system with being grossly mismanaged:
"This is not aid. It is orchestrated killing."
Between June 7 and July 20, MSF reported treating 1,380 persons wounded near GHF locations, 147 of them with gunshot wounds—41 children. Others had head trauma, suffocation, or burns to the eyes from pepper spray. A local Red Cross field hospital has also independently reported treating thousands of gunshot cases in aid queues.
GHF denies MSF's accusations as "false and disgraceful" and charges MSF with parroting Hamas propaganda.
The U.S. and Israel created GHF as a replacement for the long-standing U.N. aid system, accusing Hamas of diverting supplies. The U.N. denies widespread diversion and contends that GHF leads Palestinians into fatal conditions, consistent with Israel's drive for more mass displacement.
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