The Israeli Security Cabinet, after almost a week of deliberation, will move forward to approve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to defeat Hamas by taking control of Gaza City. This comes as a “decisive majority” decision with the belief that the alternate plan presented would not result in Hamas defeat and liberation of hostages. JNS additionally reported that the IDF will also be distributing humanitarian aid to civilian populations around combat zones.
Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that the forum voted on five principles: disarming Hamas, returning all of the living and dead hostages, demilitarizing Gaze, Israeli security control of the Strip and creating an “alternate civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
On Thursday, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel intends to take control of the entire Gaza Strip to remove Hamas, and transfer authority to non-hostile “civilian governance.”
“We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” the prime minister told Fox News.
Netanyahu stressed that the Israeli government does not “want to keep it” after taking control of the entire 26-mile-long coastal enclave.
“We want to have a security perimeter,” he said. “We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly, without threatening us, and giving Gazans a good life. That’s not possible with Hamas.”
Former U.S. ambassador to Israel said on X that Israel’s goals for peace and stability have not changed since October 7, 2023. With Hamas unwilling to negotiate hostages as evident by their propaganda video earlier this week, temporary expansion to Gaza is a change in approach to reach those goals.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said today that the IDF will increase operations planning when it comes to troop safety and creating the conditions for a safe return of the hostages. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also confirmed this week that will an increase of aid sites to 16 that can operate as much as 24 hours.
The days to come will be full of challenges for Israel as it continues to seek a path to peace despite an enemy – Hamas – that is sworn to its destruction. Please continue to pray for wisdom for Israel’s leadership, and for God’s gift of shalom, peace, over Israel, remembering that it is God Who “makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire” (Psalm 46:9).
