The decision marks a significant escalation in Israel’s war with Hamas and could give way to the Israeli military’s possible occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, not just Gaza City.
The Cabinet meeting ended after more than 10 hours of deliberations.
The news comes hours after Netanyahu said Israel would begin a new offensive in the Palestinian territory before handing over the land back to “Arab forces” that can co-exist with the Jewish state.
“We intend to [take control of all of Gaza],” Netanyahu told Fox News prior to the Security Cabinet meeting. “We don’t want to keep Gaza. We want a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us.”
The effort is designed to root out Hamas, which has not cooperated with the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. About 50 hostages remain captive, more than half of whom are believed to be dead.
NETANYAHU: ISRAEL INTENDS TO CONTROL ALL OF GAZA BEFORE HANDING IT TO ‘ARAB FORCES’
The operation is expected to last several months and displace about 1 million Palestinians from Gaza.
President Donald Trump does not oppose the plan and has decided not to intervene in the conflict, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
