Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan for a full military takeover of Gaza City – signaling for the first time in over two decades-when Israel dismantled its settlements and withdrew its military from Gaza, in 2025 – the likely re-occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, although Netanyahu says Israel plans to take full control of Gaza but does not intend to govern it.

Condemnation of Israel’s plan

The decision, confirmed in a late-night security cabinet meeting which lasted more than 10 hours and went on into this morning, has triggered fierce condemnation both within Israel and around the world, with many warning of a deepening humanitarian disaster and raising profound questions about international law and morality.

The Security Cabinet also approved five principles for ending the war:

• Disarming Hamas.
• Returning all captives in Gaza – both living and deceased, Demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
• Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip.
• Establishment of an alternative civilian government, which is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu has for weeks pushed a narrative of the need to ‘take control of all Gaza’, describing the offensive as necessary to defeat Hamas and ensure Israeli security. Yet in a Fox News interview, ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu attempted to reassure global audiences that ‘we do not wish to retain it. Our goal is to establish a security perimeter. We do not intend to govern it’.

But the plan announced this morning would leave Gaza under indefinite military control, while its future would remain uncertain, and this would be catastrophic for the Palestinians living in the Strip. This has all been discussed and planned out with no consultation whatsoever with the people of Gaza.

Humanitarian catastrophe

The consequences for Gaza’s civilians, who are already devastated by nearly two years of this genocide, are grave. The plan, according to Israeli media, would see Israeli forces begin a phased occupation starting with Gaza City, which is in the far North of the Strip, and driving an estimated one million Palestinians-half of Gaza’s population- from here, southward.

Israeli officials say they will provide ‘humanitarian aid’ for those left outside conflict zones, but with almost 90 percent of Gaza already rendered inaccessible or classified as military ‘red zones’, and Israel’s plans of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of the Strip in its final phase, there is no credibility to these assurances.

According to Israeli media Ynet, Palestinians must leave Gaza City before October 7- the second anniversary of the start of the genocide in Gaza-because Israel occupation forces would then  impose a siege on the ‘remaining Hamas fighters’. Once Gaza City is occupied, it is expected that the IDF will then proceed to other areas of the Strip.

More than 61,200 Palestinians have, so far, been killed, and 152,000 injured by Israel since the start of this genocide, and vast areas of the Strip have been reduced to rubble, with Gaza City becoming an urban wasteland due to continued airstrikes and carpet bombing.

Warnings from within Israel

But Israel’s military leadership is far from unified in support of the plan. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and several top generals have warned the occupation could plunge Israel into a years-long quagmire, reminiscent of the US Vietnam experience. Senior security officials caution that the offensive could cost many more Israeli soldiers’ lives and sharply raise the risks to the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

Also, families of the hostages have staged protests, pleading with the government not to go forward with its plan. But Netanyahu faces political pressure from far-right ministers, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a minister within the Defense Ministry, advocating, not simply military control, but the permanent expulsion of Palestinians and restoration of Israeli settlements. Smotrich has told the Religious Zionism Party’s Ofek newspaper that:

The people of Israel are correcting the sin of Gaza’, and that he is working to, among other things, reestablish the former Israeli settlements in Gaza, which were dismantled in 2005. Not only are settlements illegal under international law, but so is Israel’s entire occupation, according to lastr year’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Green MP: ‘The UK must do more than express disapproval’

Around the world, Israel’s new move has largely been met with criticism and concern:

The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.

Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions.

We need a ceasefire… pic.twitter.com/UoJhjss81e

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 8, 2025

But words are meaningless, without action, and Green MP Ellie Chowns has called for much more:

Netanyahu’s brutal plan to take control of Gaza is yet another declaration of intent to commit war crimes.

The UK must do more than express disapproval: end military cooperation and arms sales, recognise Palestine, demand an immediate ceasefire and accountability for war crimes.

— Ellie Chowns (@EllieChowns) August 8, 2025

Surprisingly, Israel’s decision to extend its military operations and occupy Gaza City has led the Germany government to suspend exports of all weapons that may be deployed by Israel into Gaza. Germany has consistently been the second largest exporter of weapons to Israel after the US and, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it accounted for a third of all of Israel’s major weapons imports between 2020 and 2024. However, although this is good news, there appears to be no mention of halting exports of weapons to the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations last week warned of ‘catastrophic consequences’ for civilians if the occupation were to expand military operations, pointing to a population already suffering from mass displacement and deprivation of food, water, shelter and basic medical care, and today UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said ‘A complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted’, and criticized the plan as a violation of international law and warned it contravenes the International Court of Justice ruling for Israel to end occupation and respect Palestinian self-determination.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have described the reoccupation as a path toward greater crimes against humanity, with international lawyers warning of possible breaches of the Geneva Conventions regarding collective punishment and forcible transfer of populations.

Genocide with no end in sight

While the occupation claims these actions are necessary for ‘security’, to ‘eliminate Hamas’ or even to give Gazans a ‘better life’,  the deep, structural issues of occupation, dispossession, and Palestinian sovereignty are never mentioned, and without these there will never be peace for Israelis or Palestinians.

The plan’s so-called ‘security perimeter’ is a fiction for millions of Palestinians who face repeated uprooting and who now have nowhere safe to go. Even as Netanyahu claims Israel does not seek to rule Gaza, the establishment of a compliant local administration—one that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority—is both unworkable and illegal under international law. The prospect of outside Arab nations assuming control, is widely derided in the region and beyond as pure fantasy.

As long as there is occupation there will always be resistance occupation. Although the set of rules always seem to be different for Israel / Palestine compared to the rest of the world, resistance against an occupying power, in all its forms, is legal. Israel’s actions will only sow the seeds of future violence.

Featured image via the Canary