Israel approves plan to take control of Gaza City

Israel's political-security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of the entire strip despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war.

"The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," Netanyahu's office said in a statement early on Friday, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces.

Gaza City, in the north of the strip, is the largest city in the enclave.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing an Israeli official, said on X the plan involved evacuating Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and launching a ground offensive there.

Netanyahu on Thursday told Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer in an interview "we intend to" when asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal 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 governing body."

He said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. He did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.

Netanyahu made the comments to Fox News ahead of a meeting with a small group of senior ministers to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza.

Israeli officials described a previous meeting this week with the head of the military as tense, saying military chief Eyal Zamir had pushed back on expanding Israel's campaign.

In its Friday statement, Netanyahu's office said the vast majority of the political-security cabinet members believed that "the alternative plan presented in the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages".

Two government sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.

Hamas in a statement called Netanyahu's comments "a blatant coup" against the negotiation process.

"Netanyahu's plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them," the statement said.

Arab countries would "only support what Palestinians agree and decide on", a Jordanian official source told Reuters, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through "legitimate Palestinian institutions".

Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an "occupying" force linked to Israel.

Earlier in 2025 Israel and the United States rejected an Egyptian proposal, backed by Arab leaders, that envisaged the creation of an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza after the war.

Opinion polls show most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages.

The White House had no immediate comment. President Donald Trump has declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential full military takeover of Gaza by Israel.

Netanyahu's government has insisted on total victory over Hamas, which ignited the war when it staged a deadly October 2023 attack on Israel from Gaza.

The UN has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza "deeply alarming" if true.

There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Videos released last week of two living hostages showed them emaciated and frail, stirring international condemnation.

Recent images of starving children from Gaza have also shocked the world and fuelled international criticism of Israel over the sharply worsening conditions in the enclave.

The Israeli military says it controls about 75 per cent of Gaza. Most of Gaza's population of about two million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning that the enclave's residents are on the verge of famine.

"Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough," said Aya Mohammad, 30, who, after repeated displacement, has returned with her family to their community in Gaza City.