By MELANIE LIDMAN and WAFAA SHURAFA
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Thursday that to destroy Hamas Israel intends to take full management of the Gaza Strip and ultimately switch its administration to pleasant Arab forces, because the Safety Cupboard mentioned a widening of its 22-month offensive.
Requested in an interview with Fox Information if Israel would “take management of all of Gaza,” Netanyahu replied: “We intend to, with the intention to guarantee our safety, take away Hamas there, allow the inhabitants to be freed from Gaza.” The Safety Cupboard would nonetheless have to approve such a choice.
’We don’t wish to maintain it. We wish to have a safety perimeter,” Netanyahu stated within the interview. “We wish to hand it over to Arab forces that can govern it correctly with out threatening us and giving Gazans life.”
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by the USA, Canada and the European Union.
An Israeli official had earlier stated the Safety Cupboard would maintain a prolonged debate and approve an expanded navy plan to overcome all or components of Gaza not but underneath Israeli management. The official, talking on situation of anonymity pending a proper choice, stated that no matter is authorised could be carried out step by step to extend strain on Hamas.
In Gaza, the place Israel’s air and floor struggle has already killed tens of hundreds of individuals, displaced a lot of the inhabitants, destroyed huge areas and brought about extreme and widespread starvation, Palestinians braced for additional distress.
“There may be nothing left to occupy,” stated Maysaa al-Heila, who resides in a displacement camp. “There is no such thing as a Gaza left.”
No less than 42 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings throughout southern Gaza on Thursday, in accordance with native hospitals.
Palestinians carry a wounded man who was injured whereas speeding to gather humanitarian support airdropped by parachute into Gaza Metropolis, within the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Palestinians carry a wounded man who was injured whereas speeding to gather humanitarian support airdropped by parachute into Gaza Metropolis, within the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi)
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A brand new escalation may deepen Israel’s isolation
Netanyahu has been assembly this week with advisers to debate what his workplace stated are methods to “additional obtain Israel’s targets in Gaza” after the breakdown of ceasefire talks final month. The Safety Cupboard assembly started Thursday night, in accordance with Israeli media, and was anticipated to stretch into the evening.
Israel already controls about 75% of Gaza. Increasing navy operations would additional isolate Israel internationally, after a number of of its closest Western allies have referred to as on it to finish the struggle and facilitate extra humanitarian support. In Israel, households of the hostages have referred to as for mass protests Thursday, fearing an escalation may doom their family members.
Hamas-led terrorists kidnapped 251 folks and killed round 1,200 within the Oct. 7, 2023, assault that triggered the struggle. Many of the hostages have been launched in ceasefires or different offers however 50 stay inside Gaza, round 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive.
Nearly two dozen kin of hostages set sail from southern Israel in the direction of the maritime border with Gaza on Thursday, the place they broadcast messages from loudspeakers.
Yehuda Cohen, the daddy of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, stated from the boat that Netanyahu is prolonging the struggle to fulfill extremists in his governing coalition. Netanyahu’s far-right allies wish to escalate the struggle, relocate most of Gaza’s inhabitants to different nations and reestablish Jewish settlements that have been dismantled in 2005.
“Netanyahu is working just for himself,” Cohen stated, pleading with the worldwide group to place strain on the prime minister to cease the struggle and save his son.
Palestinians killed and wounded as they search meals
Israel’s navy offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, in accordance with Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of have been fighters or civilians. The ministry is a part of the Hamas-run authorities and staffed by medical professionals who maintain and share detailed information.
The United Nations and unbiased consultants view the ministry’s figures as probably the most dependable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them with out providing a toll of its personal.
Of the 42 folks killed on Thursday, not less than 13 have been looking for support in an Israeli navy zone in southern Gaza the place U.N. support convoys are frequently overwhelmed by looters and determined crowds. One other two have been killed on roads resulting in close by websites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Basis, an American contractor, in accordance with Nasser Hospital, which obtained the our bodies.
GHF stated there have been no violent incidents at or close to its websites on Thursday. There was no speedy remark from the Israeli navy. The navy zone, often known as the Morag Hall, is off limits to unbiased media.
Lots of of individuals have been killed in latest weeks whereas heading to GHF websites and in chaotic scenes round U.N. convoys, most of that are overwhelmed by looters and crowds of hungry folks. The U.N. human rights workplace, witnesses and well being officers have provided comparable accounts of the near-daily shootings by Israeli hearth going again to Could, when Israel lifted a whole 2 1/2 month blockade.
The navy says it has solely fired warning pictures when crowds strategy its forces. GHF says its armed contractors have solely used pepper spray or fired into the air on some events to stop lethal stampedes.
Israel and GHF face mounting criticism
Human Rights Watch referred to as on governments worldwide to droop arms transfers to Israel after lethal airstrikes on two Palestinian schools-turned-shelters final yr.
The New York-based rights group stated an investigation didn’t discover any proof of a navy goal at both faculty. No less than 49 folks have been killed within the airstrikes that hit the Khadija ladies’ faculty in Deir al-Balah on July 27, 2024, and the al-Zeitoun C faculty in Gaza Metropolis on Sept. 21, 2024.
Medical doctors With out Borders, a medical charity identified by its French acronym MSF, revealed a blistering report denouncing the GHF distribution system. “This isn’t support. It’s orchestrated killing, ” it stated.
MSF runs two well being facilities very near GHF websites in southern Gaza and stated it had handled 1,380 folks injured close to the websites between June 7 and July 20, together with 28 individuals who have been useless upon arrival. Of these, not less than 147 had suffered gunshot wounds — together with not less than 41 kids.
MSF stated lots of extra suffered bodily assault accidents from chaotic scrambles for meals on the websites, together with head accidents, suffocation, and a number of sufferers with severely aggravated eyes after being sprayed at shut vary with pepper spray.
It stated its well being facilities have been arrange for main care, not mass casualty occasions, and the instances it noticed have been solely a fraction of the general casualties linked to GHF websites. It stated the extra severely wounded are largely taken on to hospitals or a close-by Crimson Cross subject hospital, which has independently reported receiving hundreds of individuals wounded by gunshots as they sought support.
“The extent of mismanagement, chaos and violence at GHF distribution websites quantities to both reckless negligence or a intentionally designed loss of life entice,” the report stated.
GHF stated the “accusations are each false and disgraceful” and accused MSF of “amplifying a disinformation marketing campaign” orchestrated by Hamas.
The U.S. and Israel helped arrange the GHF system as a substitute for the U.N.-run support supply system that has sustained Gaza for many years, accusing Hamas of siphoning off help. The U.N. denies any mass diversion by Hamas. It accuses GHF of forcing Palestinians to threat their lives to get meals and say it advances Israel’s plans for additional mass displacement.
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Related Press writers Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem and Natalie Melzer contributed from Nahariya.
Observe AP’s struggle protection at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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