Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves Military Control of Gaza
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take full military control of the Gaza Strip and force its entire population of 2.3 million people to move south, starting with an initial offensive and siege on its largest city. The plan is set to be implemented by the symbolic anniversary of 7 October, according to sources and reports.
The proposal was pushed through after a tense 10-hour marathon meeting, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced fierce resistance from his own chief of staff, Eyal Zamir. According to a source who was briefed on the meeting, Zamir argued that the plan would put the lives of hostages at risk, damage international legitimacy, and deplete reserve soldiers. There are also concerns that there are no guarantees of “total victory” and instead, it will embroil Israel indefinitely in Gaza, impacting its global standing and making it even more of a pariah state.
Global and Local Outrage
The proposal has already faced local and global outrage. Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, said hours after the announcement that it will “only bring more bloodshed.” The UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, warned that the plan will lead to “more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes.”
Civilians in Gaza described how they need “a miracle to save us,” while the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, some of whom chained themselves to gates outside the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, called it “a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers.”
Five Main Goals of the Plan
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office publicly outlined five main goals: Israel’s security control of the entire Strip, disarming Hamas, returning the hostages, demilitarisation of Gaza, and “the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.”
In practice, sources say the Israeli military plan will begin “gradually,” ordering the population of Gaza City to move and corral south of the tiny 25-mile enclave. From the sky, it is already overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of displaced families living in makeshift shelters.
The focus of the initial military offensive will be carried out by the symbolic date of 7 October 2025, after which a siege will be imposed on Gaza City and army forces “will manoeuvre in it,” according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster.
Resistance Within the Government
During the talks, despite backlash from Israeli military chief Zamir, who proposed a watered-down version of partial military occupation, some ministers at the meeting claimed they would not settle for anything less than the full military occupation of the entire Strip. There were also some who expressed anger at the increase of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
According to the United Nations, over 86 percent of Gaza is already an Israeli-militarised zone, under displacement orders or in areas where these overlap. This new plan would see the army push into the final scraps left of the destroyed enclave.
Forced Evacuation and Humanitarian Concerns
The plan would also see the forced evacuation and mass displacement of approximately a million civilians believed to be sheltering in the north, including in Gaza City, to the already overcrowded south. Prominent rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have said the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians constitutes a crime against humanity.
Amnesty has also warned that Israel’s blockade and use of starvation as a “weapon of war” is part of an ongoing genocide, something Israel has repeatedly and vehemently denied.
Impact on Civilians
In Gaza City, which will be the focus of the attack, families already displaced five or six times said they were praying for a miracle as they cannot survive another renewed offensive or forced evacuation order.
“We feel like we’re dead. Displacement is another death for me. It’s literally death,” said Hanaa al-Ghoul, 40, in tears. “I have no intention of moving south. Repeating the life of displacement in the south means feeling death every day. I can’t do it,” she added.
Backlash from Hostage Families
The plan has faced mass backlash from the families of the hostages and captives still held in Gaza, who said the decision was leading towards “a colossal catastrophe” for their relatives and the soldiers. There are around 50 hostages left in Gaza, only 20 are believed to still be alive, although there are fears that the true number is much less.
They said that by choosing military escalation over negotiation, the government had left their loved ones at the mercy of the militant group Hamas, who killed over 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages on 7 October, according to Israeli estimates.
International Response
The Palestinian presidency said that the displacement of one million Palestinians to the south “represents a continuation of the policy of genocide, systematic killing, starvation, and siege, and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international legitimacy resolutions.”
They said they would immediately address the UN Security Council “to request urgent and binding action to halt these crimes” and urged the international community to intervene.
The Palestinian deputy foreign minister, Omar Awadallah, urged the international community to act: “To the international community, are we going to accept apartheid colonialism in the 21st century? … Words are not enough. You should take actions.”
