The future of a million Palestinians hangs in the balance after Israel\u2019s security cabinet approved a new ground offensive aimed at taking complete control of Gaza\u2019s largest city in a decision that has triggered global outrage.<\/p>\n
The plan put forward by Benjamin Netanyahu for Gaza City would entail a further escalation in the 22-month war and mean more mass displacements of an exhausted and starving population. It has yet to be endorsed by the full cabinet, expected to convene in the next few days, but there have been calls from around the world for the government to change its mind. Germany, Israel\u2019s second-biggest arms supplier and strongest backer in Europe, on Friday suspended the delivery of weaponry<\/a> that could be used in Gaza.<\/p>\n The proposal is also reported to have opened a deep rift between Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) leadership but has not been opposed by the Trump administration, Israel\u2019s most important backer.<\/p>\n Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu\u2019s plans meant he had abandoned the surviving hostages seized by the group in its surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, which triggered the war. The statement accused the Israeli prime minister of \u201csacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda\u201d.<\/p>\n Before the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, the Israeli prime minister had said Israel planned to take control of the entire territory<\/a> and eventually hand it to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.<\/p>\n The plans announced on Friday morning stop short of that goal, perhaps reflecting the opposition of the IDF chief of general staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who told Netanyahu on Tuesday he was \u201cwalking into a trap\u201d according to Israeli press reports, warning it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel\u2019s army after nearly two years of regional wars.<\/p>\n However, in a meeting with the leadership of the IDF southern command on Friday, Zamir vowed to carry out the government\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are advancing detailed preparations at the highest level, accounting for all possible outcomes. As always, we will carry out the mission with utmost precision and determination,\u201d the army chief said.<\/p>\n NBC published commercial satellite imagery showing a buildup of Israel military vehicles on the edge of the coastal strip and quoted US officials as saying it could mean a new ground offensive is imminent.<\/p>\n The plan laid out by Netanyahu\u2019s office lists five objectives: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the entire Gaza<\/a> Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing \u201can alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids in its devastated streets, returning to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. It is one of the few areas of Gaza that has not been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.<\/p>\n The Netanyahu plan would mean sending ground troops into the few areas of the territory that have not been totally destroyed, making up about 25% of the Gaza Strip. It would force approximately 1 million Palestinians in Gaza City and surrounding areas into evacuation zones in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Sources familiar with details of the meeting said the evacuation of the city was scheduled to be completed by 7 October.<\/p>\n According to Israel\u2019s Channel 12, the plan is being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation, warding off an open rift with the IDF leadership. Some Israeli reports suggested Zamir may resign.<\/p>\n A major ground operation could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory.<\/p>\n Palestinians, who face difficulties in accessing food due to the blockade imposed by Israel, waiting to receive hot meals on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The Israeli security cabinet\u2019s decision has ignited protests at home and abroad. Thousands of demonstrators are preparing to take to the streets over the weekend, while families of the remaining hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones. Dozens of them protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday, and then outside the home of the defence minister, Israel Katz, on Friday.<\/p>\n Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan<\/a>, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit. The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, denounced the cabinet\u2019s move on Friday, calling it a disaster that would \u201clead to many other disasters\u201d, including the deaths of hostages and the killing of many soldiers, as well as costing Israeli taxpayers tens of billions and causing \u201cdiplomatic bankruptcy\u201d.<\/p>\n . The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz<\/a>, said it was \u201cincreasingly difficult to understand\u201d how Israel\u2019s plan would accomplish the aims of disarming Hamas and liberating the remaining hostages.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Israel\u2019s decision was wrong and urged it to immediately reconsider. \u201cThis action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The UN human rights chief, Volker T\u00fcrk, said the Israeli government\u2019s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip \u201cmust be immediately halted\u201d, while the EU Council president, Ant\u00f3nio Costa, said implementation of the plan \u201cmust have consequences for EU-Israel relations\u201d.<\/p>\n However, no opposition has come from Washington. When asked about a possible Israeli takeover of Gaza, Donald Trump said on Tuesday: \u201cI really can\u2019t say. It is going to be pretty much up to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n The news site Axios cited a US official as saying that Trump had been appalled by the video released by Hamas showing an Israeli hostage digging his own grave. \u201cIt influenced the president, and he is going to let the Israelis do what they need to do,\u201d the official was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n Netanyahu\u2019s office said that under the plan to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army would prepare to \u201ctake control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones\u201d. <\/strong><\/p>\n An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that whatever was approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on the Palestinian militant group.<\/p>\n Palestinians, at least 90% of whom have already been displaced at least once<\/a> by the war and of whom nearly one in 10 have been injured in Israeli attacks<\/a>, are braced for further misery. There is little remaining of the healthcare system and aid agencies such as the UN have been largely shut out by Israel.<\/p>\n A man who was injured while rushing to collect humanitarian aid airdropped into Gaza City is carried away for medical treatment. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi\/AP<\/p>\n Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: \u201cWhere should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough. You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals.<\/p>\n