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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Netanyahu’s Gaza takeover plan satisfies no one but himself
Analysis by Tal Shalev
Updated:
9:03 AM EDT, Sat August 9, 2025
Source: CNN
Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, the Israeli security cabinet
voted for yet another : the proposed takeover of Gaza City. The plan,
which was initiated and pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu himself, arguably reveals more about his domestic political
maneuvering than evidence of any well-thought-out military strategy.
The plan was adopted despite the Israeli military leadership’s fierce
objection and grave warnings it could both deepen the humanitarian
crisis and endanger the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza., The major
expansion of the war also comes against the backdrop of a fundamental
for Israel around the world, and a decline in internal public backing
for the continuation of the war.
And yet, Netanyahu pushed his plan forward, as it has at least one
unstated benefit: it gives him time to fight for his political
survival. And with his current far-right coalition partners, that means
prolonging the war. Time and again, Netanyahu’s allies, Itamar Ben
Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have thwarted and aborted progress in
ceasefire negotiations by threatening to collapse his government if the
war were to end.
Netanyahu’s plan to besiege Gaza City actually falls short of what
his coalition partners demand: Ben Gvir and Smotrich are pushing for a
full occupation of the embattled enclave as a first step for rebuilding
the Jewish settlements in Gaza and ultimately annexing the territory.
It is also less than what Netanyahu himself had been selling ahead of
the meeting.
In an interview on Thursday, Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel
intends to take control of all of Gaza, as if he had made up his mind
to fully occupy the territory.
Instead, the Israeli leader chose to promote a phased plan, focusing
only on Gaza City for the time being, without taking over other camps
nearby, where many of the 20 remaining Israeli hostages are believed to
be held captive. Netanyahu also intentionally set a relatively loose
deadline for the beginning of the operation - in two months - leaving
the door open for another diplomatic push for a ceasefire hostage deal
to reemerge and call the whole thing off.
Now, his right-wing partners are fuming at the decision, charging that
the plan isn’t enough and that only escalating the war will suffice
A source close to Smotrich said, “The proposal led by Netanyahu and
approved by the cabinet may sound good, but it is actually just more of
the same. This decision is neither moral, nor ethical, nor Zionist.”
Netanyahu’s latest plan pleases neither his coalition partners nor
Israel’s military leadership. During the marathon 10-hour cabinet
meeting, Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir presented the
army’s stark opposition to the government’s reoccupation plans.
Israel’s top general warned that a renewed military excursion would
endanger both the remaining hostages and Israeli soldiers, cautioning
that Gaza would become a trap that would further exhaust IDF forces
already worn down by almost two years of continuous fighting, and
deepen the Palestinian humanitarian crisis.
The military concerns echo the broad public Israeli sentiment:
according to repeated opinion polls, a majority of Israelis support a
ceasefire deal that would bring back the hostages and end the war. But
Netanyahu’s current decision-making is disconnected from both
military advice and popular will, driven instead, analysts and
political opponents say, by the narrow imperative of his political
survival.
The Gaza takeover plan also places Netanyahu and Israel in
unprecedented international isolation. Despite the unwavering free hand
that President Trump’s White House has given him in the Gaza war, the
growing famine and starvation crisis has already diminished global
legitimacy for Israel’s war, and the additional fallout from the
latest cabinet’s decision was swift and unambiguous: Germany –
Israel’s second most important strategic ally after the United States
– announced it was suspending some of its military exports to Israel,
setting the stage for other EU countries to further downgrade
relations.
Netanyahu is pushing forward with a plan that satisfies no one:
Israel’s allies abroad, its own military leadership, a public that
wants the war to end on the one hand, and on the other, his hardline
partners who are unhappy and think it does not go far enough.
The constituency it does serve is primarily Netanyahu himself: buying
him more time to avoid the inevitable choice between a genuine
ceasefire that could save the hostages or a full military escalation
that satisfies his coalition. More than a strategic move, it represents
yet another classical Netanyahu maneuver to prolong the war, while
perpetuating harm and suffering for Gaza residents and Israeli hostages
alike. All for his own political survival.
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