Israeli Military Plans to Occupy Gaza City in Major Escalation of War

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested earlier that Israel’s military will “take control of all Gaza”

Fri Aug 08 2025
icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp

Key points

  • Netanyahu says goal is control, not governance
  • Cabinet adopts five-point war plan
  • Gaza faces famine as aid remains blocked

JERUSALEM, Palestine: Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to “take control” of Gaza City, his office said in a statement Friday, according to AFP.

Two Israeli government sources told the Reuters news agency that any resolution by the security cabinet would now need to be approved by the full government cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.

Occupying Gaza City will mark a major escalation by Israel in its war on the Palestinian territory and will likely result in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of exhausted and starving residents who are experiencing famine conditions as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid entering the territory, according to Al Jazeera.

Under the plan to “defeat” Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”, the statement said, according to AFP.

Five principles adopted

“The security cabinet — by majority vote — adopted five principles for concluding the war: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages — living and dead; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

“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,” it added, without giving further details.

Brink of famine

As he convened his security cabinet on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel planned to take full control of Gaza but did not intend to govern it.

Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, the Israeli leader faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce deal to pull the Palestinian territory’s more than two million people back from the brink of famine.

icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp