“The plan will include, among other things, the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the control of territories,” the source said in a press release.
Unanimously approved by the cabinet bringing together the government ministers, this plan provides “powerful strikes against Hamas”, according to the same source.
By fragmented Gaza, Israel “divides to better reign”, as he did in the West Bank
Trump plan in Gaza
The Israeli Prime Minister also said during the meeting that he “continued to promote the Trump plan to allow the voluntary departure of the inhabitants of Gaza and that negotiations on this subject continued,” said the same source.
In early February, the American president, Donald Trump, launched the idea of taking control of the Gaza Strip by the United States to rebuild it and make it “Riviera du Middle East”.
For this, its inhabitants could, according to him, be moved to Egypt and Jordan, two neighboring countries which have rejected this option.
This project had aroused international outcry, but the Israeli authorities have continued to refer to it in recent months, in particular by creating a special administration responsible for allowing the Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, or by mentioning the search for host countries.
During the meeting of the cabinet, the government also approved the “possibility of a humanitarian distribution” in Gaza, subject to a total Israeli blockade since March 2, if it were to be “necessary”.
Trump says that the Palestinians would have no right to return as part of his plan for Gaza
For the time being, the cabinet has estimated that there was “currently enough food” in the territory according to the official source.
“Exhausted” stocks
International aid organizations, as well as Gazaouis, have been testifying for weeks to a dramatic humanitarian situation in this small territory, in particular because of the shortages of basic necessities.
The World Food Program (PAM), one of the main food suppliers in the Gaza Strip,, for example, announced on April 25 that it has “exhausted all its stocks” in the Palestinian territory.
Israel accuses Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid, and says that it has blocked the entry of all aid in the territory to put pressure on the Islamist movement so that it releases people kidnapped in Israel and detainees in the Gaza Strip.
After a month of total headquarters of the Gaza Strip, Israel seeks to take control of the territory
The Israeli army resumed its bombings and its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending two months of truce with Hamas.
The attack on the Islamist movement on October 7, 2023 resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, for most civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 58 are still retained in Gaza, 34 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas also retains the body of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
Hamas says it is ready to release all the hostages against the end of the war in Gaza but fears that Israel will not hold its commitments
The Israeli reprisal campaign for the attack on October 7 has left at least 52,535 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
A “sacrifice” of the hostages
The Family Forum, the largest association of hostage relatives in Israel, accused the Israeli government on Monday of “sacrificing” the hostages in Gaza after the approval of the Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory.
“What I like about him is his ability to remain optimistic”: Portrait of Edan Alexander, 20, hostage from Hamas to Gaza
This plan deserves the name of “Smotrich-Netanyahu plan” because it “sacrifices hostages”, according to a statement from the association, in reference to the influence of the Minister of Far-Right Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, on the government of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “This morning, the government admits that it chooses the territory rather than hostages, unlike the wishes of more than 70% of the population,” added the text.
