Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disclosed that Israel plans to take full control of Gaza, despite the advice against the move by the country’s military.
Mr Netanyahu disclosed this in an interview with Fox News on Thursday ahead of a security cabinet meeting to discuss a proposal to expand military operations in Gaza.
The prime minister said the move would “assure our security”, remove Hamas from power, and enable the transfer of the civilian administration of Gaza to another party.
Asked if Israel will take control of Gaza, Mr Netanyahu responds, “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza, and pass it to civilian governance – that is, not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.”
“We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” he said.
The Israeli PM suggested Israel was not interested in maintaining permanent control over the entire enclave.
“We don’t want to keep it. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces,” he said.
The Israeli military had warned that expanding operations to Gaza could endanger the hostages being held there and kill more Palestinian civilians.
Although some critics have said that Mr Netanyahu has threatened to widen the offensive to compel Hamas to offer concessions in the ceasefire negotiations.
In a swift reaction, Hamas said Mr Netanyahu’s comments “represent a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and clearly reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round.”
However, if the Israeli ministers in the security cabinet vote in favour of seeking to take over the remainder of Gaza, it could be days or weeks before Israeli soldiers begin pushing deeper into the territory.
The Israeli military said it had conquered about 75 per cent of Gaza.
Israel’s expansion of military action would be in defiance of many other countries urging an end to the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israel has come under growing pressure from some longstanding allies to do more to address a hunger crisis in the enclave.
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir, has pushed back against the potential plan.
Israeli security officials said Mr Zamir has shared concerns about the exhaustion and fitness of reservists and about the military’s becoming responsible for governing millions of Palestinians, they said.
The military leadership would prefer a new ceasefire instead of ramping up fighting, one official said.
