Israeli gov’t orders IDF to ‘take control’ of entire Gaza Strip to disarm Hamas & return hostages

The Israeli Security Cabinet ordered the Israel Defense Forces to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, approving a plan supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite significant concerns from the military top leadership.

The plan was approved after a Cabinet meeting late on Thursday evening, which was accompanied by protests led by hostage families, who warned that expanding the fighting into areas where the remaining captives are held could put their lives at risk.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) called the plan a “proposal for defeating Hamas” in an official statement published on Friday morning. The PMO listed five “principles for concluding the war.”

1. The disarming of Hamas.

2. The return of all the hostages – both living and deceased.

3. The demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.

4. Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip.

5. The establishment of an alternative civil administration to govern Gaza that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Notably, the statement did not use the terms “conquer” or “occupy,” instead stating that the IDF would “prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.”

The Israeli army is currently holding around 75% of the Gaza Strip, except Gaza City and the so-called “central camps” area south of the city.

This follows an announcement by Israel’s U.S. Ambassador, Mike Huckabee, that the United States will take a leading role in humanitarian efforts and massively ramp up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) aid distribution operations.

According to Israeli media, Israel will give Gaza City’s civilian population a deadline until Oct. 7 to evacuate, before the military will encircle and besiege the remaining Hamas fighters in the city.

This would effectively, once again, present Hamas with an ultimatum to agree to a ceasefire deal or face the takeover of the rest of the enclave.

An Israeli official told CNN that around one million Palestinians will be relocated to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where new compounds will be established to shelter the refugees.

The Cabinet meeting was preceded by days-long discussions, both in public and behind closed doors, as IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and several ministers allegedly expressed opposition to taking over the enclave, and instead advocated for a prolonged siege.

However, the PMO noted 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.”

Speaking to Fox News ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu stressed that Israel doesn’t “want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, and we don't want to govern it. We want to give it to Arab forces that will govern it properly and not threaten us.”

The internal disputes continued during the meeting on Thursday, Channel 12 reported, citing several quotes from the discussion.

“There is no humanitarian response for the million people moving [in Gaza],” Zamir reportedly warned. He was also said to have counseled to “remove the return of the hostages from the war objectives,” as the plan would put them in danger.

“We all care about the hostages, but also about the soldiers. Learn from the police how to follow the decisions of the political echelon,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir retorted.

Minister Ze’ev Elkin compared the army’s alternative plan for ending the fighting to “security enforcement, like we do in Judea and Samaria. It’s not war.”

On Friday morning, NBC reported that commercially available satellite photos showed the IDF concentrating troops and equipment near the Gaza border, indicating that the start of the new operation may be imminent.