Israel approves Gaza City occupation plan after emergency cabinet meeting

Last Friday, the Israel security firm approved a plan to occupy the city of Gaza, marking an escalation in the in the course of Israel against Hamas.

The announcement comes after a meeting all night in the security cabinet, following the announcement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu according to which Israel planned to regain control of the whole territory and to put it back to the Arab forces opposed to Hamas.

“The security firm has approved the Prime Minister’s proposal to defeat Hamas. The FDI prepares to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside of combat zones,” read an official account X of the Prime Minister of Israel.

The office said that the security firm had adopted, by vote, five principles to conclude the war, in particular: the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all the hostages – living and deceased, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, the control of Israeli security in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of an alternative of civil administration which is neither Hamas nor the authority of the Palestinians.

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Early Friday, the Israel security firm approved a plan to occupy the city of Gaza, marking an escalation in the almost two year war between Israel and Hamas. (Ali Jadallah / Anadolu via Getty Images)

“A decisive majority of the ministers of the security firm thought that the alternative plan which had been submitted to the security firm would not reach neither the defeat of Hamas nor the return of hostages,” said the Prime Minister’s office.

Israel has bombed the city of Gaza several times since October 7, 2023 massacre in addition to making many raids. Today, it is one of the rare areas of Gaza that has not been transformed into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.

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Hundreds of thousands have fled Gaza City since the start of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year.

Asked in an interview with Fox News before the meeting of the security firm if Israel “took control of all Gaza”, Netanyahu replied: “We intend to ensure our safety, to withdraw Hamas there, to allow the population to be free from Gaza.”

The destroyed buildings are in Gaza, as we can see on the Israeli side of the border on July 28, 2025. (Reuters)

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” Netanyahu said in the interview. “We want to give it to the Arab forces which will govern it properly without threatening and give gas a good life.”

The prospect of a complete military occupation of Gaza intervenes 20 years after the total disengagement of Israel from the enclave when, as part of the country’s unilateral disengagement, the government has forcibly withdrawn around 8,600 Jewish residents from the region. Shortly after, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections and organized a violent coup to overthrow the Palestinian authority and take control of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens legal action against the New York Times, accusing the defamation document on his Gaza coverage. (Images Jacquelyn Martin / Getty)

The activists led by Hamas removed 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the massacre of October 7, 2023 which sparked the war. Since then, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israelle reprisal offensive according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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Most hostages have been released in cease-fire offers, but 50 remain inside Gaza. The Israeli government thinks that about 20 of them are still alive.

Amelie Botbol of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.