Netanyahu defends plan to take control of Gaza Strip amid mounting condemnation

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck out on Sunday night against a wave of opposition to his plan to “take control” of the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a press conference, Netanyahu framed the plan to invade Gaza City that his security cabinet recently greenlit as the “best way” to end the war in the strip, “speedily,” staking out plans for Israel to control camps in central Gaza and the coastline as well. 

Only a few hours later, the Israeli military began aerial attacks on several areas in the densely populated city — part of a strategy that a regional diplomat described as intended to push people out of the capital before a ground invasion is launched. 

Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif reported on the intensified Israeli targeting of Gaza City, describing firebelts striking the city’s eastern and western areas, under an hour before he was killed along with four other Al Jazeera journalists in an attack targeting their press tent near the Shifa Medical Complex in western Gaza City. 

Netanyahu’s plan to ramp up military operations to seize control of the city was approved Friday. The renewed offensive is to see Israeli troops control an area where around 1 million displaced Palestinians have been forced to take refuge after nearly two years of war has rendered much of the rest of northern Gaza uninhabitable.

In his speech, the Israeli prime minister argued that Hamas continues to retain “strongholds” in Gaza City, as well as in the strip’s central camps and Mawasi which led the cabinet to instruct Israeli troops to “dismantle” these areas. 

The camps of Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij are located in Gaza’s Central Governorate, while the coastal area of Mawasi is one of the few remaining areas designated as a “safe zone” by the Israeli military as it orders Palestinians in the strip to evacuate. 

The Israeli military said it currently occupies 75 percent of Gaza.In May, it expanded ground operations on the strip’s northern towns, displacing much of the northernmost residents to other areas, namely Gaza city. 

Netanyahu said on Sunday that the plan will begin with allowing the population to “safely leave” combat areas to designated safe zones.

Israeli military Chief-of-Staff Eyal Zamir also reportedly told leaders in the Southern Command and air force on Sunday that the military would first be evacuated from the city before launching the invasion in October, with Israeli troops expected to move into the city center by that time. 

The regional diplomat who spoke to Mada Masr on Sunday also said that the ground invasion of Gaza City would not take place immediately and that the Israeli military would continue to conduct aerial operations in order to empty out the city until it has mobilized significant troops and finalized logistical arrangements for the ground invasion. A military official told the Israeli Broadcasting Cooperation on Saturday that a full plan would be prepared in one week.

The stated aims of the approved plan are to disarm Hamas, return all Israeli prisoners, demilitarize Gaza, maintain Israel having overriding security control and establish a “non-Israeli peaceful civil administration" for the post-war governance of Gaza that would consist of neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, according to Netanyahu.

The plan Netanyahu presented did not address the vast destruction that Israel’s military has wrought on neighborhoods across the strip, demolishing infrastructure to render entire areas unlivable. The municipality of the strip’s most populous area is in dire shortage of equipment and fuel, Gaza City municipality spokesperson Assem al-Nabih told Mada Masr last week.

Netanyahu attempted to distance the announced plan’s language of “taking over” Gaza from criticism of it as an illegal move to occupy the strip. 

“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza, free it from Hamas terrorists,” he said. “The war can end tomorrow if Hamas lays down its arms and releases all the remaining hostages.”

While mediators continue to push for a resumption of the negotiations, Hamas official Osama Hamdan said on Sunday there were no new ceasefire developments so far. 

Responding to some of the claims in Netanyhu’s Sunday address, the Gaza Government Media Office issued a statement later in the day countering claims that control of the strip would bring a speedy end to the war. 

Over the course of several failed rounds of ceasefire negotiations over the past years, Hamas has accused Israel of stalling in talks while insisting on guarantees for a permanent end to the war: a condition both Israel and the United States have repeatedly refused.  

Netanyahu has also faced opposition to the plan from inside Israel. Contrary to Netanyahu’s claim that taking control of the strip would secure the safety of the remaining prisoners held in the strip — around 20 of whom are still believed to be alive — Zamir said on Thursday that the Netanyahu-backed plan would “drag Israel into a black hole,” leaving it responsible for 2 million Palestinians and jeopardizing the Israeli prisoners, among other risks. 

Zamir also argued that the plan would take months to implement in his address to military figures on Sunday afternoon.

Israeli Finance Minister and member of Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition Bezalel Smotrich also criticized the approval for the expanded offensive earlier on Saturday, saying that he has lost faith that Netanyahu can achieve a “decisive victory,” reiterating his calls for tougher measures to be taken in the war on Gaza. 

Over the past two years, Smotrich has repeatedly called for complete Israeli occupation of the besieged enclave, while opposing ceasefire negotiations and threatening to leave the coalition if these harsher war policies are not implemented.

European representatives at the United Nations also condemned the Israeli plan, saying in a Sunday joint statement, on behalf of Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom,that expanding military operations will only endanger the lives of all civilians in Gaza, including the remaining hostages, and result in further unnecessary suffering.

Given that the crisis is “manmade,” they added that urgent action is therefore needed to “halt starvation and to surge aid into Gaza."

Although US President Donald Trump responded that it would be “up to them” when asked about his position on an Israeli takeover of the strip, the regional diplomat said that Trump has been impatient at Israel’s claims that the humanitarian situation is under control, as five months of Israeli siege drives starvation-related deaths to multiply across the strip. 

Netanyahu also took the opportunity during his speech to push back against reports of starvation among Palestinians in the strip, calling them a “fake” Hamas campaign. 

His claims come as the number of people killed from malnutrition continues to accelerate. Five people, including a child, died of hunger and malnutrition in 24 hours, the strip’s Health Ministry said on Monday, bringing the total number of starvation-related deaths to 222, including 101 children.