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Israel’s Security Cabinet is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss next steps in the nearly two-year-old war with the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of taking full control of the Palestinian enclave and operating militarily in areas they have refrained from entering until now, the local media reported.
Israeli journalist Amit Segal, a commentator for Channel 12, the country’s highest-rated news broadcast, quoted a source from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that the “decision has been made… we are going to occupy the Gaza Strip.”
“Hamas will not release hostages without total surrender, if we do not operate now the hostages will die of starvation and Gaza will stay under Hamas’ control,” Segal quoted the official as saying.
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“Israel for months was at a crossroad and, let’s be honest, it was not achieving victory or the hostages. The mandate for a deal was broad, but we did not get agreement, so we will go for occupation,” he quoted.
The reports of deepening the military operation in Gaza come after months of mediated ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas appeared to have collapsed this week and despite assurances by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Israel over the weekend, that he was working on a plan that would end the war.
It also comes after Hamas, the designated terror group whose October 7, 2023, mass attack in Israel sparked the war, shocked the Israeli public with propaganda videos of emaciated hostages, including one who was forced to dig his own grave.
Additionally, international pressure on Israel to end the war has ramped up in recent weeks amid accusations that is aid policy is causing famine in Gaza and after images of severely malnourished children – some of whom were later proven to be children with pre-existing medical conditions – went viral.
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Pressure in Israel to end the war and return home some 50 hostages, both dead and alive, who remain in Gaza has also been growing, with the country’s leadership divided over the best way to achieve this.
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Some ministers in Netanyahu’s government, such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been pushing for Israel to re-occupy Gaza and rebuild Jewish settlements that were dismantled 20 years ago.
The Israeli military, however, has argued against that plan and, according to media reports, is expected to present some alternatives at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.