Senior Netanyahu Official: 'We Are Moving to Occupy' Entire Gaza Strip

In what one peace group described as "a direct assault on international law," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, at least one senior member of Israel's government told multiple media outlets on Monday.

"We are moving to occupy the strip—the decision has been made," an unidentified "senior official in Netanyahu's office" told Israel's Channel 12. "Hamas will not release more hostages without complete surrender, and we will not surrender. If we do not act now, the hostages will die of starvation—and Gaza will remain under Hamas control."

A person described as "a source in the prime minister's office" told The Jerusalem Post that Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—has reached a decision to fully occupy Gaza.

The Israeli news site Ynet cited "senior officials" in "Netanyahu's circle" as saying, "The die is cast, we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip."

Responding to the news, Israeli author Hen Mazzig said on the Bluesky social network: "This is a monumental mistake, both morally and strategically. This will not bring our hostages home, only endanger them further."

German journalist Claas Gefroi wrote on Bluesky: "It's so clear. Netanyahu wants an endless war, a permanent state of emergency—and thus many more years in power."

On Monday, Israel's High Court of Justice issued an injunction blocking Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a domestic criminal corruption trial, from firing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who is prosecuting him.

After nearly 22 months of fighting a war whose stated purpose is the defeat of Hamas and the return of all Israeli and other hostages taken on October 7, 2023, Hamas remains undefeated and 20 hostages are believed to be alive inside Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel's 667-day assault and siege on Gaza has left more than 220,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and at least hundreds of thousands more starving through a famine that's killed at least 181 people, over half of them children, according to local officials.

Multiple Israeli hostages also appear to be starving in recently released images. The Palestine Chronicle reported Monday that Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades—Hamas' military wing—said that "prisoners are not deliberately starved, they eat what our fighters and our people eat."

Hamas responded to Monday's reports by saying that "Israel's threats are repetitive, worthless, and have no influence on our decisions," according to The Jerusalem Post.

The Virginia-based peace group World Beyond War said on social media that "Netanyahu's decision to fully occupy Gaza is a direct assault on international law."

"The world must reject endless military domination and demand recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state—its people as full citizens with rights, dignity, and safety," the group added.

More and more nations have been moving to formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Last month, France became the first Group of Seven member to announce it will officially recognize Palestine. Last week, Canada said it would also do so, with conditions attached, and the United Kingdom threatened recognition if Israel does not take "substantive steps" to end its obliteration of Gaza.

Although the Israel Defense Forces are winding down Operation Gideon's Chariots, the campaign to occupy all of Gaza and expel its Palestinians—possibly to make way for Jewish recolonization—without achieving any of the mission's objectives, observers note that Israel is still seeking to ethnically cleanse the strip. It is doing so through forced starvation, one of the alleged crimes for which Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC. Israel's weaponized starvation is also cited in the South Africa-led genocide case against currently before the International Court of Justice.

In March, Israel's Security Cabinet created a new Defense Ministry directorate tasked with the euphemistically described "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the new agency would be run "in accordance with the vision of U.S President Donald Trump," who earlier this year said that the United States would "take over" Gaza after emptying the strip of its more than 2 million Palestinians and transform the coastal enclave into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Channel 12 reported Monday that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir recently pitched occupying all of Gaza as an alternative to a plan favored by Netanyahu to force Palestinians into a concentration camp—he calls it a "humanitarian city"—to be built over the ruins of the southern city of Rafah. Zamir has reportedly dismissed the "humanitarian city" as "unworkable."

Echoing international law and voices like U.N. Palestine expert Francesca Albanese, Palestinian-Canadian neuroscientist Afif Aqrabawi noted Monday on social media that "Gaza is already occupied."

"This new move isn't some shift—it's just the next phase of extermination," he added.