Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Fox News interview that he plans to have Israel take complete control of the Gaza Strip. He said the plan is to take over, eliminate Hamas, then transfer governance of the area to an Arab authority.
Taking Gaza
Netanyahu’s statements came just before a cabinet meeting in which that topic was to be brought up. It would mark a major shift in Israeli policy.
The Israelis pulled out of Gaza in 2005 as part of former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s “disengagement plan.” Hamas then took over in 2007, removing West-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Currently, the Israeli military controls about 75% of Gaza. Taking the rest of the territory would involve sending in tens of thousands of troops to take over the coastal strip, central region and the capital, Gaza City.
Netanyahu will need the approval of his cabinet to expand the war.
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“Given the nature of the current government, they could agree and begin to execute that,” Alon Ben-Meir, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and former international relations professor at NYU, told Straight Arrow News. “The question is, how is Israel going to have to deal with the international community? What position is Trump’s administration going to take? I think a great deal matters as to what Trump is going to do about this.”
President Donald Trump does not oppose the plan, according to reports. He has also voiced his opposition to a two-state solution, but Ben-Meir emphasized that Trump should go back to supporting a two-state solution, which won’t come quickly.
“What you need is a new Palestinian authority, a new election, all political parties in Palestine could participate under international supervision,” Ben-Meir said. “With the support of the United States, with the support of the Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt in particular, [you can] move toward the process of reconciliation. That means you cannot just sit down and agree on a two-state solution. That has to be an agreement in principle. But you need a number of years for implementation in terms of how to mitigate distrust between the two sides, which is very embedded, both practically, psychologically, and emotionally, and otherwise.”
A two-state solution has been tried in the past with support from previous U.S. administrations, but talks consistently fell apart.
Pushback to the plan
Pushback to Netanyahu’s plan is coming from multiple places, including inside his own military. There are reported objections from top military leaders of the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF.
The IDF released a statement from Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who seemed to reference those objections.
“The culture of debate is an inseparable part of the history of the people of Israel; it constitutes an essential component of the IDF’s organizational culture—both internally and externally. We will continue to express our position fearlessly—in a factual, independent, and professional manner,” Zamir said in the statement translated from Hebrew.
Zamir also highlighted the importance of this subject.
“We are not dealing with theory—we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defense of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and the citizens of the state,” Zamir said.
His hesitance likely stems from the possibility of an expanded war.
“This is going to be more difficult than some think, which is why the chief of staff with Israel Defense Forces has been wary,” Matthew Levitt, Director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Straight Arrow News.
Hamas, as expected, also wholeheartedly disapproved of this plan, saying in a statement that Netanyahu is planning to sacrifice Israeli hostages to serve his “personal interests and extremist” agenda.
“We affirm that Gaza will remain defiant to the occupation and attempts to impose guardianship over it. Expanding the aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park, and the price will be high and costly for the occupation and its Nazi army,” Hamas said in a statement.
Despite objections to this plan from Netanyahu, most agree that change is needed in Gaza leadership.
“Hamas can no longer govern Gaza. That has to be a given,” Ben-Meir said. “Could you really destroy every single fighter of Hamas? That’s not going to happen. Hamas remains as a movement.”
International reaction
Most Arab countries also do not support Hamas, but they also do not support Netanyahu’s plan.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan have both rejected plans to displace any Palestinians.
While the U.S. may not be opposed to the plan, opposition has begun from other Western nations, including the UK.
The British Ambassador to Israel called the plan a mistake. The German foreign minister said the Gaza Strip belongs to the Palestinians.
There’s also the well-documented famine issue, something Trump broke with Netanyahu on.
“I think President Trump really does want this over, and it’s not clear if he’s willing to put any skin in the game to make that happen, but there is an opportunity for President Trump to tell the Prime Minister, look, I just did something for you on the issue that has always been your number one concern, the Iranian nuclear program,” Levitt said. “I now need you to do something for me to bring the Gaza conflict to a close.”
Ben-Meir stressed that the pressure really needs to come from inside Israel.
“[The] Israeli public needs to be awakened with a bitter reality. They exist with the Palestinians whether they like it or not. They are within the Israeli society and surrounding every single Israeli community. Seven million Palestinians, equal to the number of Israeli Jews,” Ben-Meir said. “They exist now; they coexist now. The question they must choose is, do we want them to exist for another 80 years killing each other? Or should we find a formula where we can coexist in peace? I think it’s entirely possible.”
