Israel approves plan to ‘conquer Gaza’ as Smotrich claims territory won’t be returned in any deal
Chief of Staff warned of the dangers that hostages could be "lost"
In an operation dubbed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, Israel’s security cabinet has unanimously backed a plan to broaden the military offensive against Hamas by relocating the civilian population and “conquer Gaza”, despite warnings from the chief of staff that it could lead to the remaining hostages being “lost”.
An Israeli official quoted by the Times of Israel said the plan provided for the “conquering of Gaza and holding the territories.” The official said it would see the IDF take control of territory in Gaza, move the civilian population toward the south, attack Hamas and prevent the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid.
Even in the event of a new hostage deal, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, the territory would not be returned. “We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,’” he said.
The security cabinet vote was announced as the IDF declared that it would mobilise tens of thousands of reservists, strengthening its capacity to operate in the besieged Palestinian territory.
On Monday, Prime Minister Netanyahu posted on Twitter/X: “One thing will be clear: there will be no in-and-out. We’ll call up reserves to come, hold territory — we’re not going to enter and then exit the area, only to carry out raids afterward. That’s not the plan. The intention is the opposite.”
In a move that would end two months without supplies being allowed into the Strip the cabinet also approved a proposal to renew aid deliveries in way that would minimise diversion of the goods by Hamas. It was reported that the plan would have international organisations and private security contractors hand out boxes of food to individual Gazan families — but any such suggestion has been rejected by the United Nations.
It is understood that the approved plans will only come into effect after Donald Trump’s visit to the region next week.
Israel’s Channel 13 news reported on Sunday evening that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir had warned ministers in recent days that Israel “could lose” the hostages in Gaza if it launches a major operation in the Strip.
Channel 13 quoted Zamir as telling ministers: “In a plan for a full-scale manoeuvre, we won’t necessarily reach the hostages. Keep in mind that we could lose them.” Zamir reportedly said the dual aims of defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages “are problematic in relation to each other”.
Speaking at the annual Bible Contest in Jerusalem on Yom Ha’atzmaut, Netanyahu said that while freeing captives was “a very important goal”, the “supreme objective” was military victory.
“We have many goals in this war. We want to bring all our hostages home, we’ve brought back 147 alive, 196 in total,” he said. “There are another 24 alive, 59 total, and we want to return the living and the dead. It’s a very important goal. War has a supreme goal. The supreme goal is victory over our enemies, and this we will achieve.”
The comments triggered a furious response from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, who accused the prime minister of abandoning the central moral imperative of the war.
The UK said it “does not support an expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza”.
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