Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly planning to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, including by launching operations in areas where Israeli hostages are held.
Sources within Netanyahu’s government spoke to Israeli media outlets on Sunday and Monday about the plan, which would mark a stark departure in Israel’s tactics in Gaza.
The announcement fulfills the wishes of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners, who want to see Jewish resettlement in Gaza 20 years after the country unilaterally disengaged from the territory. Israeli forces removed 9,000 Jewish residents exactly 20 years ago this week.
But it has been widely panned by others in the country and beyond, who see a full occupation as likely to put hostages and soldiers in harm’s way without any payoff, and as moving in the wrong direction away from ending the grinding war after nearly two years.
This week, 19 living past directors of Israeli military and intelligence agencies called on Netanyahu to end the war, saying that while it had begun as a just war it now had uncertain military aims and was creating suffering without results. And the IDF’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, reportedly has opposed the occupation decision privately.
“The die is cast — we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip,” a senior official close to the prime minister told Ynet on Monday. “There will be activity also in areas where hostages are being held. If this doesn’t suit the IDF chief of staff, he can resign.”
Currently, Israel controls around 75% of the besieged enclave, but under Netanyahu’s new plan, Israel could come to control the rest of the territory. The IDF has said it opposes the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, citing the challenges of clearing all of Hamas’ infrastructure and potentially endangering the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages, according to the Times of Israel.
Last year, Hamas executed six Israeli hostages after IDF forces came near, in an incident that shook the country and Jews around the world.
The new vision comes after ceasefire negotiations with Hamas fully halted in recent weeks. Last month, President Donald Trump appeared to call on Israel to escalate its offensive in Gaza, telling reporters that Hamas “didn’t really want to make a deal,” and that Israel is “going to have to finish the job.”
The decision to change the military strategy must get approval from Netanyahu’s cabinet, which is reportedly meeting Tuesday to discuss the matter.
But sources close to Netanyahu’s government told Israeli media they understood the decision to be likely to move forward.
“We’re going to occupy the strip. The decision has been made,” said one senior Israeli official in Netanyahu’s office, according to Amit Segal, the chief political analyst of Channel 12 who is known as a right-wing journalist. “Hamas won’t release more hostages without total surrender, and we won’t surrender. If we don’t act now, the hostages will starve to death and Gaza will remain under Hamas’ control.”
The vast majority of Israelis say in polls that they want a deal that would end the war and cause the remaining 50 hostages to be released.
The buzz around occupation — which some are referring to as annexation — has elicited stark warnings from around the world, including from pro-Israel voices.
“I hope the reports that PM Netanyahu has made the decision to annex Gaza are wrong,” tweeted Dennis Ross, who served in Middle East security roles in both the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. “Not only would that create an ongoing insurgency, drain the IDF, doom the remaining hostages, and cement Israel’s isolation internationally—it might trigger a tipping point of loss of U.S. support.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
