 "Israel's Security Cabinet approves takeover of Gaza City, says Netanyahu's office")
Israel’s Security Cabinet in the early hours of Friday approved the takeover of Gaza City, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will prepare for the takeover of Gaza City while ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” the PMO said in a statement.
The occupation of Gaza City will mark an escalation in a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians — most of them civilians as per an admission from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As Gaza City is one of the few places from where Israel has not yet expelled Palestinians, tens of thousands of people are expected to be displaced in the upcoming Israeli offensive to occupy the city.
The announcement of Gaza City’s takeover has come after a Security Cabinet that began on Thursday and continued well into the night. Ahead of the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that he intended to take over all of Gaza but not annex it. Instead, he said he would hand it over to an Arab entity that would neither be Hamas nor Palestinian Authority (PA).
It appears that the Security Cabinet stopped short of approving Netanyahu’s position. Notably, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had opposed the plan to occupy the entirety of Gaza and said such a campaign would endanger the lives of around 20 hostages still believed to be alive in captivity.
The development has come at a time when Israel is under rising condemnation across the world over the hunger crisis in Gaza. Aid agencies have said that dozens of people have died from hunger. Moreover, hundreds have been killed in recent weeks at food distribution sites in what Palestinians allege to the Israeli attacks. Last month, the United Nations (UN) released a video that showed Israeli soldiers firing at Palestinians sitting and awaiting a UN aid convoy.
In the past 24 hours, 42 people were killed in Gaza, according to AP.
Israel would take control of all of Gaza but not keep it: Netanyahu
In remarks that triggered outrage, Netanyahu on Thursday said that Israel would take control of all of Gaza but not annex it.
Instead, Netanyahu said that Israel would hand over Gaza’s control to Arab forces that will neither be of Hamas or the PA, the internationally-recognised de-facto Palestinian government.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“We intend to [take control of all of Gaza] in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there. We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life," said Netanyahu.
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