Israel’s security cabinet early Friday approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, marking an escalation in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas.

Following a night-long security cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans for Israel to reclaim full control over the territory, with a future transition to friendly Arab forces that oppose Hamas. 

“The Security Cabinet has endorsed the Prime Minister’s proposal for the defeat of Hamas. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian assistance to civilians outside the combat zones,” stated a post from the official X account of the Israeli Prime Minister. 

The office outlined that the Security Cabinet had voted on five core principles to end the conflict: disarming Hamas, the return of hostages alive or dead, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, ensuring Israeli security control in the Strip, and setting up a new civil administration unaffiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. 

Hundreds of thousands have fled Gaza City since the start of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. 

In a Fox News interview before the Security Cabinet meeting, when asked if Israel planned to “take control of all of Gaza,” Netanyahu responded: “That is our intention, to secure our safety, eliminate Hamas there, and free the population from Gaza.”

Destroyed buildings lie in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)

“Our goal is not to retain it but to establish a security perimeter,” Netanyahu stated in the interview. “We aim to transfer it to Arab forces who can govern it effectively, without posing a threat, and provide the people of Gaza with a good life.”

The idea of fully occupying Gaza marks 20 years since Israel’s complete withdrawal from the area. During the unilateral disengagement, roughly 8,600 Jewish residents were forcibly evacuated. Soon after, Hamas won legislative elections and orchestrated a violent coup to oust the Palestinian Authority and take control of the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens legal action against The New York Times, accusing the paper of defamation over its Gaza coverage. (Jacquelyn Martin/Getty Images)

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre that triggered the war. Since then, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. The Israeli government believes around 20 of them are still alive.