Netanyahu says the quiet part out loud

Whether October 7 was a false flag or a "let it happen" or a mixture of both, this was the obvious purpose all along.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-military-offensive.html

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 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 would enable the transfer of the civilian administration of Gaza to another party.

The prime minister, however, suggested Israel was not interested in maintaining permanent control over the entirety of Gaza. “We don’t want to keep it,” he added.

Does that mean he:

• Intends to sell it to the US or to Israeli developers for redevelopment as a Mediterranean resort?

• Or sell it to the oil companies for drilling for offshore gas and oil?

• Or to the canal builders for the alternate Suez Canal?

Or (most likely) all the above?

Israel having supported Hamas for many years, there is no civilian authority to turn over governance to—this is a false claim among so many others… when they have destroyed most of the homes in Gaza there is nowhere for people to go back to and make a life. There is only redevelopment ahead.—Nass

Israel’s security cabinet, a group of senior ministers, was set to convene on Thursday evening.

Even if the security cabinet votes in favor of seeking to take over the remainder of Gaza, it could be days or weeks before Israeli soldiers begin pushing deeper into the territory.

Expanding military action would also be in defiance of many countries’ urging Israel to end the nearly two-year war in Gaza. In recent weeks, Israel has come under growing pressure from some longstanding allies to do more to address a hunger crisis in the enclave.

The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has pushed back against the potential plan, according to four Israeli security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. He has shared concerns about the exhaustion and fitness of reservists and about the military becoming responsible for governing millions of Palestinians, they said.

“We want to liberate [interesting choice of words during a genocide—Nass] 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 military leadership would prefer a new cease-fire instead of ramping up fighting, according to three of the officials.

In earlier stages of the war, Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli military clashed about strategy. But the latest episode appeared to be the most significant showdown since the government appointed General Zamir in February.

At the time, members of the governing coalition hoped that he would be more closely aligned with their approach than his predecessor. In recent days, however, he has been criticized by some supporters of the government.

The Israeli military released comments made by General Zamir on Thursday in which he said “the culture of debate” was “a vital component of the I.D.F.’s overall culture — both internally and externally,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“We will continue to express our position without fear,” he added. “That is the expectation we have of our commanders as well. The responsibility lies here, at this very table.

The military believes it could seize the remaining parts of Gaza within months, but setting up a system similar to the one it oversees in the Israeli-occupied West Bank would require up to five years of sustained combat, three of the security officials said.

Israeli officials have emphasized that Mr. Netanyahu has not made a final decision on whether to expand the military campaign. Some analysts have said that he is threatening to widen the offensive to compel Hamas to offer concessions in the cease-fire negotiations.

On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli military would carry out any decision made by the security cabinet.

The Israeli military has said that it has conquered roughly 75 percent of Gaza. The coastal strip stretching from Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south is the main area that is outside Israeli control. Many of the two million Palestinians in Gaza, including those displaced from their homes in the territory, have squeezed into tents, makeshift shelters and apartments in those areas.

“I think we’re going in the direction of a victory [The Israelis pretend it is a war to be won when it is a massacre of destruction—Nass] in the Gaza Strip,” Miki Zohar, Israel’s culture and sports minister, said in an interview on Wednesday with Channel 14, a right-wing Israeli television station. “That means a complete conquering of the strip and control of every area in the strip.”

Members of Israel’s opposition and the families of the hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza have also cautioned against expanding the military operation.

“Conquering Gaza is a bad operational idea, a bad moral idea and a bad economic idea,” Yair Lapid, the leader of the parliamentary opposition, told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.

The families of hostages worry that extending Israeli control could lead to the military inadvertently killing their loved ones or to Hamas executing them.

About 250 people were taken hostage during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and more than three dozen hostages have been killed while in captivity, according to an investigation by The New York Times.

“Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization, and they’ll kill hostages if the military comes near them,” said Elhanan Danino, whose son, Ori, was killed by his captors a year ago when Israeli soldiers were operating near a tunnel in which he was being held in southern Gaza.

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

For Palestinian civilians, the possibility that Israel could escalate its operation has heightened fears that many more residents could be killed and that their already miserable living conditions in Gaza could become even worse.

“They’re talking about occupying areas that are packed with so many people,” said Mukhlis al-Masri, 34, who was forced to leave his home in northern Gaza and is now in Khan Younis. “If they do that, there will be incalculable killing. The situation will be more dangerous than anyone can imagine.”

On Sunday, Mr. al-Masri said that his brother, brother-in-law and four nephews and nieces had been killed and that his sister had been seriously wounded when a school-turned-shelter was bombed in Khan Younis. He said that he was staying in a tent near Al-Nasr Hospital in the city to be near his sister, who is in the intensive care unit there.

The Israeli military asked for more information about the incident but did not provide further comment. The military has said in the past that its strikes target militants and their weapons infrastructure in Gaza and has stressed that Hamas has embedded itself in civilian spaces.