Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation in devastating war

The Guardian

2 days ago

Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel's top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel's army after nearly two years of regional wars. Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones.
Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today it is one of the few areas of Gaza that hasn't been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.
A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory.
It's unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gaza's largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year.
Families of hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones, and some protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit.
An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision, said that whatever is approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on Hamas.
Palestinians, at least 90% of whom have already been displaced at least once by the war and of whom nearly one in ten have been injured in Israeli attacks, are braced for further misery. There is little left remaining of the healthcare system and aid agencies such as the UN have been largely shut out by Israel.
Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: 'Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough.
'You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine.'
At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals.
Asked in an interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would 'take control of all of Gaza,' Netanyahu replied: '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,' Netanyahu said in the interview. 'We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.'
Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports.
Israel's military offensive has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, mostly civilians. The figure does not include the thousands believed to be buried under the rubble or the thousands killed by the indirect consequences of the war.
Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies.
GHF claimed there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza and have repeatedly targeted Palestinian journalists.
With Associated Press