After a marathon overnight meeting, the Security Cabinet voted early Friday to approve a plan for a full takeover of the Gaza Strip, overriding strong objections from the military chief of staff and warnings raised during the hours-long debate.
The session, which began Thursday evening, exposed sharp divisions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who argued for an alternative encirclement plan. Several ministers also clashed openly with Zamir over his stance.
In a statement released just before 5 a.m., Netanyahu’s office said the Cabinet had approved his proposal to “decisively defeat Hamas,” with the IDF preparing to seize control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to civilians outside combat zones.
The Cabinet adopted what officials called “five principles to end the war”: disarming Hamas, securing the return of all hostages—alive and deceased—demilitarizing the territory, maintaining Israeli security control in Gaza and establishing an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
According to the statement, most ministers rejected Zamir’s encirclement plan, arguing it would not bring about Hamas’ defeat or the hostages’ return. Under the approved plan, evacuation of Gaza City’s civilian population is to be completed by Oct. 7, described as a “symbolic date,” after which a siege would be imposed on remaining Hamas fighters. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz were authorized to give final approval to the IDF’s operational plan.
Although the official decision avoids the term “occupation,” using the word “seizure” instead for legal reasons linked to civilian responsibility, a senior Israeli official acknowledged the intent is effectively to occupy Gaza. The operation is to proceed in stages, beginning with the takeover of Gaza City, but could halt if a hostage deal is reached.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich opposed the move because it did not explicitly bar stopping the fighting for a hostage deal, and joined National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in objecting to large-scale humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. Smotrich argued that if the military does not intend to go “all the way,” Zamir’s plan was preferable.
Zamir was the most forceful opponent in the room, warning of the humanitarian and operational consequences of displacing about 1 million Gazans and the potential danger to hostages. In a heated exchange with Ben-Gvir, Zamir said, “There is no humanitarian answer for a million people we will transfer. Everything will be complicated,” adding sarcastically to ministers: “I suggest you remove the return of the hostages from the war’s objectives.”
