The Israeli government has approved plans to expand the genocidal war on Gaza that Israeli officials say will lead to the full Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territory.
The plan involves capturing more territory in Gaza, expanding the so-called “buffer zone” where the IDF has demolished virtually every structure, and forcibly displacing Palestinian civilians to move them all to a small area of southern Gaza.
An Israeli official told Haaretz that the plan is different from previous Israeli military operations because it will lead to “the occupation of territory and a sustained Israeli presence in Gaza.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel is “finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip” and that it was “no longer afraid of the word ‘occupation.'”
Smotrich said that once the new offensive starts, nothing will stop Israel’s plans to “conquer” Gaza, not even Hamas releasing all the Israeli hostages.
“There will be no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages,” Smotrich said. “Once we occupy and stay, we can talk about sovereignty. But I did not demand that this be included among the goals of the war. First, we will defeat Hamas and prevent it from existing.”
Both Smotrich and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have made clear that freeing the hostages is not their priority and that the ultimate goal is ethnic cleansing, which they frame as “voluntary migration.”
A group representing the family members of Israeli captives held in Gaza slammed the new plan for Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the plan should be named the “Smotrich-Netanyahu plan” to “give up on the hostages and Israel’s security and national resilience.”
According to AFP, an Israeli official said Israel would allow a “window” to reach a hostage deal with Hamas during President Trump’s visit to the region, which will begin on May 13, before launching the offensive. But a deal is unlikely since Israel has repeatedly rejected an offer from Hamas for all the captives to be freed in exchange for a permanent truce.
The approval of the plan to take over Gaza comes after over two months of a total Israeli blockade on the Strip, and as children are starving to death due to the lack of aid. According to CBS News, the plan includes a mechanism to have a private security company distribute aid in Gaza, but there’s no indication it will be implemented soon or that it would provide the relief needed to stave off a massive famine.