Israeli security cabinet convenes to discuss push for full-scale military occupation of Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:17 PM – Thursday, August 7, 2025

Israel’s security cabinet convened on Thursday for a key discussion on whether to push forward with a complete military occupation of the Gaza Strip.

The initiative, spearheaded by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is reportedly aimed at intensifying pressure on the terrorist organization to secure the release of the remaining hostages abducted on October 7, 2023, and ultimately, to eliminate any remaining Hamas members, according to The Times of Israel.

In a Thursday interview with Fox News, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would “take control of all of Gaza.”

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“We intend to in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu responded. “That’s what we want to do, we want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” he continued.

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. 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 that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. That’s not possible with Hamas. The only way that you’re going to have a different future is to get rid of this neo-Nazi army,” Netanyahu added.

Despite Netanyahu’s optimism, there is some dissent among top Israeli officials, including IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who reportedly expressed that Netanyahu’s plan would “drag Israel into a black hole,” according to a report from The Times of Israel.

“Occupying the Strip would drag Israel into a black hole — taking responsibility for two million Palestinians, requiring a years-long clearing operation, exposing soldiers to guerrilla warfare and, most dangerously, jeopardizing the hostages,” Zamir stated.

“We are not dealing with theory; we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defense of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and the citizens of the country,” he added.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office have suggested that if Zamir objects to the plan, he should resign immediately as IDF chief, according to Israeli media outlets.

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is one of the individuals being held hostage in Gaza, called for a protest outside of the Thursday cabinet meeting, arguing that the plan to enact a full-scale occupation is “counterproductive to the priority of securing the release of the hostages.”

“Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesn’t go and conquer the Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger,” she wrote. “Netanyahu and his partners are about to condemn [Matan] to death.”

Meanwhile, in response to the news of the Israeli security cabinet discussing potential plans to fully occupy Gaza, thousands of Israeli civilians have begun flooding the streets in protest of the plan.

“Marching now in the streets of Tel Aviv in protest against the plan to occupy Gaza that will kill the hostages, the Palestinians in Gaza, and the soldiers. We will not let the government of death prevail. The occupation of Gaza – we must refuse,” wrote Standing Together, an Israeli grassroots movement for “Peace, Equality & Social Justice in Israel” on Thursday during the security meeting.

However, Hamas has indicated on numerous occasions that they will kill all Israeli hostages should it believe the Israeli military is closing in.

“Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization, and they’ll kill hostages if the military comes near them,” stated Elhanan Danino, the father of an Israeli hostage who was killed a year ago due to Israeli soldiers operating near where he was held captive.

“Every moment they are being held there — being starved — puts their lives at risk,” Danino added. “I don’t want to see other hostages die the same way our son did.”

Meanwhile, United Nations (UN) official Miroslav Jenča argued that the “deeply alarming” idea of a full-scale occupation of Gaza would break international law.

Nonetheless, despite the opposition, Netanyahu is likely to secure a majority in the security cabinet to proceed with the plan, analysts say.

In the U.S., President Donald Trump is not expected to oppose the plan should Israel move forward with it, according to a report from Axios citing U.S. and Israeli officials. The Times of Israel similarly noted that he emphasized that whether Israel occupies Gaza is “pretty much up to Israel,” with Trump’s own focus directed toward facilitating humanitarian food aid.

Trump was asked on Tuesday about the prospects of a full-scale Israeli occupation of Gaza, to which he responded: “I really can’t say. It is going to be pretty much up to Israel.”

The plan would reportedly involve deploying tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers to Gaza for the occupation and transporting over one million Palestinians in the process, according to Israeli media.

The United Nations (UN) reported that over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed while attempting to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites since May 27th. However, these figures have been disputed by GHF, an American nonprofit organization, backed by Israel, established in February 2025 to distribute aid during the ongoing crisis. The GHF claims that over 500 have been killed while attempting to receive aid.

Nonetheless, if the Gaza occupation plan is given the OK, the complete military plan would likely be partly funded by the United States.

According to the Watson Institute, the U.S. has provided approximately $17.9 billion in security assistance to Israel from October 7, 2023, through around September 2024. Of that, roughly $6.8 billion was direct FMF aid allocated in that timeframe. In addition, a supplemental appropriation of $8.7 billion, passed by Congress in April 2024, specifically provided additional wartime military assistance. The U.S. also remains committed to a 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which pledges $3.8 billion annually in military aid to Israel through 2028.

However, some journalists and political commentators argue that the United States would effectively be funding the full occupation of Gaza, while Israel maintains control over the territory.

“Who do you think will pay for Israel’s full-scale occupation of Gaza and ensuing years of guerrilla warfare?” journalist Glenn Greenwald, who identifies as a civil libertarian, asked rhetorically. “Even if IDF chiefs are vehemently opposed, knowing it will lead endless insurgency and enduring fighting and death. But it’s not Israel who will pay for it.”

Despite Netanyahu’s claim that Israel is seeking an intermediary Palestinian governing body in Gaza, members of his cabinet, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have openly called for annexing Gaza.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also called on the Israeli government to “conquer the Gaza Strip,” while declaring that he is “no longer afraid of the word ‘occupation.’”

The siege on Gaza began after Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 Israelis and capturing approximately 251 hostages.

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