A complete occupation of Gaza, what does Netanyahu think to achieve with that? And where should the Palestinians go?

According to Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to fully occupy the Gaza Strip. He may want to force Hamas to accept a truce on Israeli conditions. Six questions and answers about the Israeli plans.

1
What does the plan entail?

Israeli media reported on Monday that Netanyahu is behind a plan for the entire military occupation of Gaza. Israel would also want to further expand his ‘military operations’ in Gaza, in areas where hostages would be held. The Israeli Security Cabinet would meet on Tuesday about the plans, but that meeting was canceled, the Israeli newspaper reported Haaretz. Instead, a smaller meeting would take place, including the army chef of the army, about the situation in Gaza.

Gaza is already largely governed by the Israeli army. According to the UN agency for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCA), 87.8 percent of the Gaza Strip was declared a military zone in July or was under an ‘evacuation warrant’. The remaining areas where the majority of the displaced Palestinian population are also repeatedly attacked.

It is not the first time that Israel announces a long -term military occupation of Gaza. Last May, the Israeli security cabinet already approved a plan for the expansion of its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where Gaza would be taken and would be militarily occupied for an indefinite period of time. A complete military occupation of Gaza may be the advance to annexation. Various right -wing Israeli ministers control this. Since October 2023, various conferences have been organized in Israel, which were attended by ministers and politicians, about the annexation and colonization of Gaza.

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2
How does this plan relate to the existing Israeli occupation of Gaza?

A complete occupation would mean that Israel manages on permanent military presence in Gaza, on top of the existing long -term occupation of the area. Israel has been occupying Gaza and the West Bank since 1967, including East Jerusalem. Until 2005, the Israeli army was present in Gaza, where illegal Israeli settlements were located according to international law. Despite the dismantling of these settlements and the military withdrawal in 2005, according to the UN, there is still an occupation: Israel has been checking the national borders (together with Egypt), the sea and the airspace above Gaza with a blockade.

The International Court of Appeal ruled in July 2024 that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, including Gaza, is illegal and should end as quickly as possible. In September 2024, the UN General Meeting adopted a resolution that stipulates that Israel must fully withdraw from the occupied territories within twelve months (no later than September 2025). The announcement this week that Israel wants to occupy Gaza completely militarily is at odds with the opinion of the International Court of Justice and the UN resolution on withdrawal.

3
Why is there disagreement about the plans between Netanyahu and the army top?

The plan to fully occupy Gaza completely exposes tensions between Netanyahu and the Israeli army top. According to the Israeli news website Ynet Is the Chief of Staff of the Army, Eyal Zamir, against the plan, because the lives of the remaining hostages would be endangered. Netanyahu would have directed himself to Zamir on Monday, with the message that if the plan does not like him, he must immediately leave. Zamir postponed a visit to the US for this week.

The tensions between Netanyahu and the army top already came to the surface when military leaders expressed their doubts about the feasibility of Israel’s war goal to completely destroy Hamas, which Netanyahu still controls. The army top also argues for negotiations with Hamas for the release of the hostages. And while Netanyahu is currently on an extension of the military presence in the Gaza Strip, the army top is planning to thin that presence.

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4
Where should the population of Gaza go now?

That is not clear. If Israel also attacks the small area where almost the entire population of Gaza has been compromised, little remains. The rest of the Gaza Strip is largely flattened and unlivable. “If the tanks were going to drive, where would we go, into the sea? This would be a death sentence for the entire population,” Hout dealer Abu Jhad, who did not want to give his full name, said on Tuesday Reuters news agency.

A few weeks ago, Minister Israel Katz (Defense) announced a plan to lock hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza in a camp on the ruins of the destroyed city of Rafah. Critics called this a “concentration camp” and saw it as a harbinger for the full ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Palestinians cannot flee to Egypt due to Israeli limit blocks.

5
How should the hostages continue?

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad brought video material out last week showing the emaciated hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski. Last weekend there were again major protests in Tel Aviv, in which tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand their release.

The remaining hostages – it is assumed that there are still around twenty of them alive – would be in the area that Israel now wants to conquer. According to Netanyahu, they will be released by the military action. Most military and security experts fear that the hostages are much more danger in such an action. They see a cease-fire as the best guarantee to get them free.

6
Is there still a ceasefire talking?

There have been conversations on a cease-fire for months, but the parties are too far apart. For example, Hamas demands a permanent end to the war, which Israel refuses.

Israel was the party that, in March of this year, blew up the previous ceasefire, after it had refused to speak about the next phase of the truce. It is speculated that with the announcement of a complete military intake of Gaza, Netanyahu wants to increase the pressure on Hamas to agree to a cease-fire under Israeli conditions.

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