Netanyahu says he will occupy all of Gaza until Hamas is driven out

BarcelonaIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his government wants to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, but not to annex it to Israel but to hand it over to "a civilian government" once Hamas has been extinguished. "This is our intention," Netanyahu responded when a Fox interviewer asked him if he wanted to take control of all of Gaza, but then added: "We don't want to keep it [this control]. We want to create a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be a governing body."

The interview on the American network Fox was conducted just before Netanyahu met with his security cabinet to make an official decision on his ultimate objective in Gaza. Netanyahu assured that they will take military control of the entire Strip to establish a security perimeter, "drive out Hamas and allow the people of Gaza to be free and hand over control to a civilian government that is not Hamas or anyone who advocates the destruction of Israel," he said in the interview.

The security cabinet meeting is expected to discuss Israel's next move in the Gaza Strip. Government spokesmen have spoken of a "total" occupation of Gaza, while both the opposition leader and the Palestinian leader have expressed their disapproval of the Gaza Strip. as senior Israeli military officers have expressed their opposition. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has openly opposed the army's entry into the areas where Israeli intelligence believes the hostages are being held, on the grounds of not endangering their lives, not damaging Israel's international image, and not further exposing troops that are already showing too much of this. 2 indiscriminate attacks have not achieved any of the declared objectives of the war: neither the release of the hostages nor the disappearance of Hamas. A group of 600 former Israeli security officials, including ministers and former heads of spy agencies,They warned in a public letter to Trump on Monday that the only way to recover the hostages is through an agreement with Hamas and that militarily there is nothing more that can be done in Gaza.And the families of the hostages, who on Saturday brought 60,000 people out onto the streets of Tel Aviv, denounce that the total occupation is a death sentence for those kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

In fact, hundreds of people gathered this Thursday at the security post to show their rejection of the expansion of the offensive in Gaza and to demand a hostage exchange agreement. Among the protesters were at least three hostages in Gaza who were released in the previous agreements signed between Israel and Hamas (one in November 2023 and another in January of this year): Ilana Gritzewsky, Arbel Yehoud, and Sharon Cunio Alony, according to Efe. Their respective partners, Matan Zangauker, Ariel Cunio, and David Cunio, remain in captivity. The protests against the Netanyahu government's plans have spread to cities in Israel and numbered thousands of people, according to the newspaper. HaaretzHostage family organizations last week called on all IDF commanders to oppose any military action that puts the hostages' lives at risk. Before entering the meeting, Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that the army "will continue to fearlessly express its position" against the occupation of the Strip, "since lives are at stake."

For its part, Hamas also issued a statement warning that Netanyahu's words about the expansion of the military offensive are a "blow" to the ceasefire negotiations. For the Islamist militant group, the Israeli prime minister's expressed intentions show that he "seeks to sacrifice his own hostages to serve his personal interests." "Expanding the aggression will not be so easy. The price will be high," Hamas warned in its statement, which called Netanyahu's words "a clear shift in the course of negotiations" for a truce, which had already stalled. It also warned that any Gaza government chosen by Israel would be considered a "labor force linked to Israel."

In the Strip, evacuation orders

Meanwhile, the Israeli army has issued evacuation orders for Gaza City, in the north of the Strip. Specifically, the orders affect four areas in the Daraj and Tufah neighborhoods, and the population is being called to move to the "humanitarian" area of Al Mawasi. Gaza hospitals recorded four new deaths "due to hunger and malnutrition during the past 24 hours," according to the enclave's Health Ministry, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 197, including 96 children.

The Israeli army has killed at least 61,258 Palestinians in Gaza and injured 152,045. Hamas and other militias are estimated to have killed 1,139 people in Israel during the attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.