Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to militarily take over Gaza City has been approved by Israel’s security cabinet, thereby intensifying the current battle in the Palestinian territory and fueling worries about more mass displacement and humanitarian catastrophe.
According to a statement early Friday from Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli army (IDF) would “prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.” First reported by Axios reporter Barak Ravid, the plan calls for the forced expulsion of all Gaza City inhabitants by October 7 under a siege and ground attack against surviving Hamas insurgents.
Two Israeli officials quoted by Reuters state that with a conference set for Sunday, the entire government cabinet still needs to approve the plan.
Once the most densely inhabited urban center in the enclave, Gaza City has already been destroyed by months of conflict that have killed over 61,000 Palestinians starting in October 2023. Earlier in the war there were mass evacuations, yet many inhabitants returned throughout a brief truce earlier this year. Presently, the new offensive risks further displacing tens of thousands as food supplies deteriorate and humanitarian aid remains mostly stopped.
Gaza resident Maysaa al-Heila reportedly told AP, “There is nothing left to occupy,” and “There is no Gaza left.”
Nearly 200 people are said to have died from hunger and malnourishment; aid organizations caution that a ground operation in the north may paralyze what little humanitarian aid is now practicable.
In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu claimed that Israel intends to set up a “security perimeter” and transfer control to an undefined third party rather than to govern Gaza long-term. “We don’t want to keep it,” he said.
This declaration comes after reports that Netanyahu may soon declare plans for a full military occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, a move that will define a fresh chapter in the roughly year-long war and likely generate global worry over the legality, humanitarian and strategic implications of such a move.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled Gaza City under forced evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a brief ceasefire at the start of this year.
A major ground operation in Gaza City could displace many thousands and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the famine-stricken territory, where almost 200 people have now died from starvation and malnutrition.
“There is nothing left to occupy,” Gaza resident Maysaa al-Heila said on hearing of the planned takeover of the city.
“There is no Gaza left,” al-Heila told The Associated Press news agency.
