In an interview with Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel intended to take control of the whole Gaza Strip, but did not want to govern it.
His comments came on Thursday shortly before the Israel’s office met to consider his proposal to take control of the band.
“We intend to (take over) to ensure our security, remove Hamas (de) there … and transmit it to civil governance which is not Hamas and no one advocates the destruction of Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu declared in the interview that Israel wanted a security perimeter and wanted to give Gaza to the Arab forces to govern the territory.
“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a director. ”
Hamas said in a statement that the remarks constituted “a coup” in the midst of the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s plans to extend the offensive spectacle of Israel Gaza, its objective is to sacrifice the captives of Israel to serve its personal interests, added Hamas in its declaration.
While the meeting of the Israeli security firm began, hundreds gathered near the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, where they called an agreement to release the captives.
The meeting comes as international indignation concerning the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza has hooked pressure on Israel, the United Nations agencies warning famine in the devastated territory.
Gaza hospitals have recorded four new deaths “due to famine and malnutrition in the last 24 hours”, according to the Enclave Ministry of Health, increasing the total number of deaths related to 197, including 96 children, since the War of Israel against Gaza after October 7 of Hamas, October 7, 2023, the southern Israel attacks.
Hoda Abdel-Hamid of Tel Aviv Tribune noted that Netanyahu’s statements were very different from what had been reported in the Israeli media on a full-fledged occupation of Gaza, but warned that “it is an interview that he gave to one of the American networks”.
For days, the Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu should request the approval to extend military operations, including in densely populated areas where captives are considered to be held.
This occurs despite an increasing concern among the Israelis concerning the fate of the remaining captives, some families of which have navigated from the port of Ashkelon on Thursday seeking to approach the Gaza Strip.
As the meeting approaches, rumors were widespread in the Israeli press on disagreements between the cabinet and the military chief of Israel, Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, who would oppose plans to fully reoccupy Gaza.
Wednesday, the Minister of Defense Israel Katz had weighed on social media, claiming that “it is the right and the duty of the chief of staff to express his position”, but the army must finally respect any policy adopted by the government.
In a statement published Thursday by the army, Zamir underlined his independence, promising to “continue to express our position without fear”.
“We are not facing theory – we are dealing with questions of life and death, with the defense of the state, and we do it while looking directly in the eyes of our soldiers and citizens,” Zamir said in the press release.
Farhan Haq, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, warned “the prospect of enormous levels of humanitarian suffering, including potential families that could worsen if the conflict is worsening.”
Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist from the local newspaper Haaretz, said that the Israeli Prime Minister’s remarks on another director who takes up Gaza are “eccentric” and not realistic.
“What does he mean, another force will take control of Gaza? Who will enter Gaza, who will be willing to do so, with the exception of the Israeli army, of course?” Levy said to Tel Aviv Tribune.
He said that it seemed clear that the real objective of such a decision was to “aim for an ethnic cleaning of Gaza”.
“There is a goal for this war … to push all the inhabitants of Gaza in this” humanitarian “concentration camp and then offer them to leave Gaza,” said Levy.
