“Israeli” army will “take control” of Gaza City: Netanyahu’s office

“Israel's” security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to "take control" of Gaza City, his office said in a statement Friday.

Under the plan to "defeat" Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the “Israeli” army "will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones", it said.

Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, the “Israeli” prime minister faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce to pull the Palestinian territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and to spare captives held by Hamas.

As he convened his security cabinet on Thursday, Netanyahu said “Israel” planned to take full control of Gaza but did not intend to govern it.

Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu told US network Fox News that the government intended to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip.

He added that Israel did not want "to keep" the Gaza Strip, which “Israel” occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005.

Netanyahu said “Israel “wanted a "security perimeter" and to hand the Palestinian territory to "Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life."

"That's not possible with Hamas," he added.

His office on Friday said a majority of the security cabinet had adopted "five principles for concluding the war: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages -- living and dead; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

"A decisive majority of security cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the security cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages," it added, without giving further details.

An expanded “Israeli” offensive in Gaza could see ground troops operate in densely populated areas where captives are believed to be held, Hebrew media reported.

The reported plans to expand the war have sparked growing concern in “Israel” about what it means for the remaining captives.

As the cabinet meeting kicked off, hundreds rallied near the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, calling for a deal to free the captives.

Hamas in a statement said that "Netanyahu's plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda."

Ahead of Thursday's meeting, rumours have been rife in the “Israeli” press about disagreements between the cabinet and “Israel's” military chief Eyal Zamir, who is said to oppose plans to fully reoccupy Gaza.

Defence Minister Israel Katz weighed in on social media Wednesday, saying the military must ultimately respect any policies adopted by the government.

In a statement released by the military Thursday, Zamir underscored his independence, vowing to "continue to express our position without fear".