NY Times - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza, bucking the advice of the Israeli military and warnings that expanding operations could endanger the hostages being held there and kill more Palestinian civilians.
Mr. Netanyahu made the comments in an interview with Fox News ahead of a security cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss a proposal to expand military operations in Gaza. They came as talks to achieve a cease-fire and the release of the hostages have hit an impasse, with Israeli and Hamas officials blaming each other for the deadlock.
When asked whether Israel would take over all of Gaza, he responded, “We intend to.”
Mr. Netanyahu said the move would “assure our security,” remove Hamas from power and enable the transfer of the civilian administration of Gaza to another party.
“We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” he said in an excerpt from the interview, without providing details on any planned operation.
The prime minister, however, suggested Israel was not interested in maintaining permanent control over the entire enclave. “We don’t want to keep it,” he added. “We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces.”
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