The Israeli Security Office approved at dawn on Friday (8) a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to, in a decision that contradicted the recommendation of his military command.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after the meeting that the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of the city of Gaza.”
Hamas indicated in a statement on Friday that it will resist any Israeli offensive ,.
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Q: Why does Israel want to control the city of Gaza?
A: On Thursday (7) that an expanded operation would guarantee Israel’s safety, would expel Hamas from power and allow the return of hostages.
On Friday, after the meeting, his office said that the Security Council adopted “five principles to complete the war,” including disarming Hamas, bringing back the hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, establishing Israeli security control over the enclave and creating “an alternative civil administration that is neither hamas nor Palestinian authority.”
The announcement of the cabinet seemed to avoid saying that Israel would take the full control of the Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had previously said was his plan.
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Q: Where is the Israeli army now?
A: After almost two years of war, the Israeli army says it controls about 75% of Gaza. The UN states that more than 86% of Gaza is within the Israeli Militarized Zone or under evacuation orders.
The main part of Israeli control is a coastal track that extends from the city of Gaza, to the north, to Khan Youis, south. Many of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza tightened on tents, makeshift shelters and apartments in this range of land.
Netanyahu’s office said the army would prepare to take control of the city of Gaza while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.
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Q: What would that mean to civilians?
A: For civilians in Gaza, the possibility of an expanded operation has increased the fear that many more can be killed and their already miserable living conditions can make it even worse.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is devastating, with many people running out of food for days, according to the UN. Many residents of Gaza have been displaced more than once since the beginning of the war, and more than 60,000 have been killed, according to local health authorities, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
“They are talking about occupying areas that are crowded with people,” said Mukhlis Al-Mamasri, 34, who left his home in northern Gaza and is now in Khan Younis, where six of his relatives died in a recent bombing. “If they do this, there will be an incalculable killing.”
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Q: How long would it take?
A: It would probably take days or weeks for the army to summon the reserve forces necessary to advance in the city of Gaza and to allow forced evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the new combat areas.
If the government decides to move forward, the army believes it could take the remaining parts of Gaza in months.
Q: Who would govern?
A: Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel does not want to have permanent authority about Gaza. “We don’t want to stay with her,” he said. “We do not want to rule it. We do not want to be there as a ruling organ. We want to deliver to Arab forces.”
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Arab states could agree to participate in an international force, possibly taking care of security and administration, perhaps with foreign or hired peacekeeping forces. But they would probably want to approve and a role for the Palestinian Authority, which currently manages part of the West Bank and ruled parts of Gaza before Hamas took power in 2007.
This means that the insistence of the Israeli security office to exclude the Palestinian authority from any civil government, as described in the announcement, can make international engagement even more difficult for its controversial plan.
Q: What will Hamas do?
A: This Friday, Hamas said that occupying the city of Gaza and evacuating its residents would constitute “a new war crime.”
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“We warned the criminal occupation that this criminal adventure will have a high price,” Hamas said in a statement.
The militants did not detail how they would respond. But Hamas resisted requests for surrender throughout the war and, despite the heavy losses in its leadership, continues to recruit new combatants.
Q: Who opposed?
A: The head of the Israeli Army Staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, is among those who opposed Netanyahu’s plan, Israeli security officials. He expressed concern that expanded operations would endanger hostages, about 20 of which are still believed to be alive in Gaza, and that this would further overload the resources and troops already exhausted, as well as making the armed forces responsible for governing 2 million Palestinians, the authorities said.
At a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday (4), Miroslav Jenca, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, said expanded military operations “could cause catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and endanger the life of the remaining hostages.”
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