After a marathon meeting lasting more than ten hours , the security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to capture Gaza City .

"The Political and Security Cabinet approved the Prime Minister's proposal for the defeat of Hamas. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City, providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones. An absolute majority of Cabinet ministers agreed that the alternative plan presented would lead neither to the defeat of Hamas nor to the return of the hostages," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office reported.

The operation the IDF will prepare concerns Gaza City only: the goal, a senior official explained, is " to evacuate all residents of the city to the central refugee camps and other areas by October 7, 2025 (the second anniversary of the Hamas massacre in southern Israel). A siege will be imposed on the terrorists remaining in the area, and in the meantime, the army will maneuver inside the city."

The Security Cabinet adopted five principles for ending the war: "Dismantling of Hamas's arsenal; return of all hostages, living and dead; demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control of the Strip; and establishment of an alternative civil administration, neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority." The goal, after the occupation, is to hand the area over "to Arab forces who will govern it properly and will not threaten us," Netanyahu explained yesterday.

The green light came despite opposition from the IDF, which has avoided entering much of the city since the beginning of the war. It's a complicated operation that will require the evacuation of the area currently home to approximately one million residents of the Strip . So much so that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir warned in recent days: "We're stepping into a black hole." And during the meeting , he reiterated his opposition to the plan: "There is no humanitarian response for the million people we will move to Gaza. It will all be extremely complex. I propose removing the return of the hostages from the objectives of the war."

Hamas warned: "We will fight anyone who wants to rule Gaza. Netanyahu's plan shows he wants to sacrifice the hostages."

(Unioneonline)

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