Israel security cabinet approves plan to occupy Gaza City | 7 Aug 2025 | Israel’s security cabinet early Friday approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, marking an escalation in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. The announcement comes after an all-night meeting of the security cabinet, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. The office said the Security Cabinet had adopted, by vote, five principles for concluding the war which include: the disarming of Hamas, the return of all hostages — living and deceased, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.