'Stupid, Criminal, and Horrifying': Netanyahu Plan to Take Control of Entire Gaza Strip Condemned

Ahead of a meeting with his security ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed once again Thursday that his government plans to take control of the entire Gaza Strip—"a direct assault on international law," as one group said this week, and one that his own military leaders have opposed.

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu was asked whether his government aims to take over all of Gaza, 75% of which it now claims to control, as officials have stated this week.

"We intend to," the prime minister said, saying his country would take control of the enclave "in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel."

Netanyahu convened a security meeting after the interview, seeking approval for his plan to expand Israel's offensive in Gaza to areas in the central part of the territory where hostages are believed to be held, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have largely avoided since it began bombarding Gaza in October 2023.

The assault has forcibly displaced nearly the entire population of 2.1 million Palestinians, killed more than 61,000, and injured more than 150,000 as Israel's near-total blockade has pushed the enclave toward famine and starved to death nearly 200 people, including at least 96 children.

The prime minister did not delve into specifics about the plan, but claimed Israel does not "want to govern" Gaza.

"We don't want to be there as a governing body," he said. "We want to hand it over to Arab forces."

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has expressed opposition to the proposal, and three military officials told The New York Times Thursday that the military would prefer a new cease-fire deal rather than intensifying fighting.

Cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel have recently hit a deadlock.

Setting up a system of occupation in Gaza like the one Israel controls in the West Bank would take "up to five years of sustained combat," officials told the Times.

Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, explained how Netanyahu and his Cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, likely plan to carry out "the final phase of the genocide" in Gaza, having recently set aside funds "for winning the war" in the enclave.

"Israel will move to annihilate the three remaining areas that haven't been wiped out fully yet: Gaza City, Deir Al-Balah, and the central refugee camps (i.e. Nuseirat)," said Shehada. "Those three areas have been heavily bombed, invaded by the IDF, shelled nonstop but they have not been depopulated and fully razed to the ground like Rafah, Khan Younis, Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, etc."

Palestinian-American analyst Yousef Munayyer denounced Netanyahu's stated plan as "stupid, criminal, and horrifying."

Palestinians have expressed fears this week that the latest Israeli proposal would kill far more civilians in Gaza as the IDF moves into areas where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to move.

"They're talking about occupying areas that are packed with so many people," Mukhlis al-Masri, a 34-year-old Palestinian who fled to Khan Younis from his home in northern Gaza, told the Times. "If they do that, there will be incalculable killing. The situation will be more dangerous than anyone can imagine."

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group, said Netanyahu's comments on Thursday included "a slip, but a revealing one": that Israel wants to "enable the population to be free of Gaza" following the IDF's decimation of the enclave.

"Netanyahu's threat to 'take control' of all of Gaza is like his threat in 2020 to annex the West Bank," said Zonszein. "Israel already controls and destroyed most of Gaza, and already de facto annexed the West Bank. So while Palestinians will suffer more, Israeli strategy hasn't changed one bit."