JERUSALEM, Israel – The war between Israel and Hamas is intensifying as a new plan to take over the Gaza Strip moves into action.
The plan, approved Thursday night, is aimed at destroying what remains of the Hamas terror group and pressuring it to free the 20 living hostages it is still holding, along with the bodies of 30 others.
The Israel Defense Forces warn that this could put the lives of Israeli hostages still in captivity at risk.
With the Security Cabinet’s approval for the military takeover, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that the war plan calls for the full control of the Gaza Strip.
“We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” Netanyahu stated.
The phased plan includes disarming Hamas and the other terror groups, returning all hostages, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, and creating a civilian government that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
The prime minister explained, “We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to armed forces that will covenant properly without threatening us and giving the Gazans a good life. That’s not possible with Hamas.”
Netanyahu indicated Israel and the U.S. agree on certain principles for post-Hamas Gaza, including non-Israeli civil control.
President Trump plans to collaborate with Israel to run additional food distribution centers.
“That’s what I’m focused on. As far as the rest of it, I really can’t say – that’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” the president said.
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As a group of demonstrators outside the Prime Minister’s Office chained themselves to a fence in protest, the IDF warned that the plan could put the lives of the remaining hostages at risk.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee observed on Friday, “Israel does, in fact, take a huge risk by taking the military action that is planned in order to end Hamas and save hostages. But what choice do they have?”
Netanyahu contended, “I think with a combination of the right military tactics and international pressure, we can get all of them, and certainly most of them, out.”
The plan is meeting with resistance from U.K. leaders. Britain’s Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters called it a “huge mistake.”
The Gaza takeover plan could also spark a new wave of antisemitism. A Paris office of the Israeli Airline El Al was vandalized on Thursday.
There is also the uphill battle with the media. Netanyahu told Fox News that he’s looking into whether a country can sue The New York Times for a misleading front page article that portrayed a child with a medical condition as evidence of starvation.
The prime minister claims the public is catching on to the major media, and the truth will win out in the end
“People will see the humanitarian surge. people will see our efforts to prevent civilian casualties.”
