Israel’s safety cupboard has authorised plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli navy to occupy Gaza Metropolis, in an growth of navy operations that comes amid worldwide condemnation of the deteriorating humanitarian scenario within the Gaza Strip.
The choice, introduced in an announcement by the prime minister’s workplace, got here after a marathon assembly of the cupboard that lasted for a number of hours stretching into the early morning hours of Friday in Israel.
“The Safety Cupboard has authorised the Prime Minister’s proposal for the defeat of Hamas,” the Israeli prime minister’s workplace mentioned within the assertion. “The IDF will put together for the takeover of Gaza Metropolis whereas making certain the supply of humanitarian support to the civilian inhabitants outdoors the fight zones.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks throughout an occasion on the Waldorf Astoria Lodge in Jerusalem on July 27, 2025.
Gil Cohen-magen/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Within the assertion, the prime minister’s workplace mentioned the safety cupboard, by a majority vote, additionally adopted 5 rules for ending the battle with Hamas, which included “Israeli safety management within the Gaza Strip.”
The opposite rules had been:
- Disarming Hamas
- Returning all of the hostages, together with the our bodies of those that have died
- The demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; and
- Establishing an alternate civil administration that’s neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority
The assertion from the prime minister’s workplace mentioned a “decisive majority” of the ministers within the safety cupboard believed that an unspecified different plan that was additionally thought-about “would obtain neither the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.”
Earlier than the safety cupboard assembly, Netanyahu mentioned in a Fox Information interview on Thursday that Israel “intends to” take management of all of Gaza, however “we do not need to hold it or govern it,” he mentioned.
He added, “We do not need to be there as a governing physique. We need to hand it over to Arab forces that can govern it correctly with out threatening us and giving Gazans a great life. That is not attainable with Hamas.”
Netanyahu mentioned within the interview that he has not mentioned Israel occupying all of Gaza with President Donald Trump.
“He understands that it is Israel who’s going to do the combating. It is not American troopers,” Netanyahu advised Fox when requested if Trump has given him the inexperienced gentle to occupy all of Gaza.
“Properly he simply says, ‘I do know Israel goes to do what it’ll do,’ and we’ve not gotten into that sort of dialogue,” Netanyahu mentioned.
An Israeli military infantry-fighting car leaves a cloud of mud because it strikes at a place alongside Israel’s southern border with the Gaza Strip on August 5, 2025.
AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Responding to Netanyahu’s feedback on Fox, Hamas mentioned the prime minister’s feedback revealed the actual motive Israel withdrew from the negotiations to achieve a ceasefire deal.
“Netanyahu’s statements signify a blatant reversal of the negotiation course of and clearly expose the actual motives behind his withdrawal from the most recent spherical of talks, regardless of us nearing a ultimate settlement,” Hamas mentioned in an announcement.
“Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression verify, with none doubt, that he’s in search of to eliminate his captives and sacrifice them in service of his private pursuits and extremist ideological agenda,” Hamas continued.
Demonstrators maintain torches, throughout a protest outdoors Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace, to demand the rapid launch of the hostages kidnapped in the course of the lethal October 7, 2023, assault on Israel by Hamas, and the top of the battle, in Jerusalem, August 7, 2025.
Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Earlier than the choice was introduced, the Hostage Households Discussion board known as for the Israeli cupboard to return to negotiations and attain a deal that will deliver the remaining hostages dwelling.
“We’re interesting to the cupboard — the growth of the combating is a hazard of loss of life and rapid disappearance for our family members — look us within the eye if you select to sacrifice them,” the Hostage Households Discussion board mentioned in an announcement.
Two sources aware of the matter advised ABC Information earlier this week that Netanyahu had determined to suggest that the IDF transfer ahead with a plan to fully conquer and occupy the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu held a three-hour restricted safety cupboard assembly on Tuesday the place the matter was mentioned, in line with a readout from the prime minister’s workplace.
“The IDF is ready to implement any determination made by the Political-Safety Cupboard,” the readout mentioned.
On this image taken from a place on the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip leaves a path of smoke on Aug. 7, 2025.
Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
On Sunday, an Israeli official advised ABC Information that Netanyahu was pushing to increase the navy operation in Gaza on the grounds that he felt Hamas isn’t focused on reaching a brand new deal beneath which surviving hostages might be launched.
When requested concerning the attainable growth of the marketing campaign in Gaza, U.S. State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned Tuesday, “Reporting is one factor. Actual plans may be one other. We aren’t within the enterprise of deciphering statements from overseas governments when and in the event that they’re made.”
“We do stay centered on liberating the hostages, together with the stays of two People, and making certain that Hamas by no means guidelines Gaza once more,” Bruce mentioned.
ABC Information’ Joe Simonetti and Jack Moore contributed to this report.
