Netanyahu's Cabinet Approves Gaza City Takeover; Adopts 5 Principles For War's End (image:x.com/IsraeliPM)
Tel Aviv, Israel: In a decision taken early Friday Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take control over Gaza City, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The devastating retaliatory strikes by Israel, following the initial attack by Hamas on October 7, was immense. It resulted in thousands of Palestinians being killed, Gaza’s infrastructure in ruins, and a widespread famine threat over the population.
“The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Netanyahu’s office said in a X post.
The Prime Minister noted five key principles adopted by the Security Cabinet for concluding the war. These are: disarming of Hamas; return of all the hostages – the living and the deceased; demilitarization of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; and establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
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The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for defeating Hamas.
The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 8, 2025
In a statement before the Security Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister said that Israel would initially assume control of all of Gaza, then transfer authority to Arab powers who oppose Hamas. Extending military operations in Gaza would further endanger the lives of countless Palestinians and nearly 20 remaining Israeli hostages at risk increasingly alienating it from the global community. Israel has already in possession of nearly three quarters of the Gaza.
Families of hostages in Gaza are afraid of an escalation which could harm or kill their loved ones and some of them protested outside the Security Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Speaking against the plan, former top Israeli security officials cautioned that the plan would put them in a difficult position with very little military benefit.
According to local hospitals. at least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday (August 7).
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On Thursday, August 7, families of some of the hostages still held in Gaza launched boats from southern Israel and sailed to the maritime border of Gaza. Some of those aboard used loudspeakers to deliver their message.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s military offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, but the ministry’s report does not mention how many were fighters or civilians. Although Israel has challenged those numbers, it has not provided its own.
(With inputs from AP)
