The Israeli cabinet will consider a plan to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City, on Thursday, according to reports in the Israeli media.
The Times of Israel, citing Israel’s Channel 12, reports:
A reported plan for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip, expected to be presented for cabinet approval by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow, focuses initially on seizing Gaza City and expanding aid distribution centers in coordination with the United States, according to Hebrew media reports.
According to a Channel 12 report, in the plan’s first phase, Israel will issue an evacuation notice to the residents of Gaza City — estimated to number around 1 million people, roughly half the Strip’s population — to allow time for the establishment of civilian infrastructure in central Gaza, including hospitals and camps for evacuees. This phase is expected to last several weeks.
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The operation is reportedly designed to span several weeks, not months, and appears intended as a compromise with [Israel Defense Forces] Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who has warned against a full invasion, by initially limiting the operation to Gaza City, thereby delaying full occupation.
The Jerusalem Post added:
The plan is expected to involve around five IDF divisions and last approximately five months. It will also involve relocating approximately one million Gaza City residents and will likely be approved on Thursday, cabinet ministers told the Post, adding that “the real question is what version of the plan will ultimately be approved.”
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When asked about the possibility of Israel taking over Gaza, Trump responded that this would be “Israel’s decision” to make.
Times of Israel founding editor David Horowitz explained that Israel currently controls 75% of Gaza, largely in the south, and that the remaining 25% is where much of the population — and the Israeli hostages — are.
Israel had not intended to reoccupy Gaza, but Hamas is refusing to accept a ceasefire deal in which it would release all of the hostages while also disarming and accepting that it would no longer govern the territory.
Given Israeli public sentiment, Hamas could likely remain armed and in control of Gaza — at least nominally — if it offered to release the hostages, which would create irresistible public pressure in Israel to end the war.
However, the fact that Hamas still has 50 hostages, 20 of them living and facing starvation, is the only so-called achievement of the war for the terrorist group, and it is evident reluctant to admit overall defeat.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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