Netanyahu 'presents plan to annex parts of Gaza'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will move to annex parts of the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire agreement with Hamas is not reached, according to Israeli media.
The remarks were made during a war cabinet meeting on Monday, which included Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, Netanyahu presented a new strategic and political plan that marks a shift from Israel's previous approach during more than 20 months of war in Gaza.
Netanyahu is said to have told the cabinet that “Israel does not intend to wait indefinitely” for Hamas to respond to a proposed temporary ceasefire brokered by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
If no agreement is reached soon, Israel will reportedly begin annexing territory within the Gaza Strip.
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The report further states that the cabinet discussed establishing a designated administrative body to oversee both civilian and security control in these areas.
Meanwhile, Israeli military officials have reportedly not abandoned the controversial "humanitarian city" plan, which aims to concentrate the Palestinian population in a closed compound in the southern Gaza Strip.
The proposal has been widely criticised and likened to a concentration camp for Palestinians ahead of potential expulsion from the territory.
According to the report, infrastructure work is underway in the Rafah area for the project.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump suggested he wants Israel to change course regarding its actions in Gaza following disagreements in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
During Trump's visit to Scotland, he told reporters, "I told Israel, I told Bibi [Netanyahu], that you have to now maybe do it a different way."
Phased annexation
The new plan presented to the cabinet on Monday has the support of Trump, according to a report in Haaretz.
The plan proposes a phased annexation of the Gaza Strip, beginning with areas within the so-called buffer zone, followed by northern regions near Sderot and Ashkelon.
Haaretz reported that the process is intended to continue gradually until Israel annexes the entire Gaza Strip. The move is seen as a political concession to Smotrich.
The finance minister, who previously warned, “If a single grain of humanitarian aid goes to Hamas, I will leave the government and the cabinet,” came under heavy domestic criticism following the announcement that humanitarian aid would resume entering Gaza.
Israel’s months-long restriction on the entry of food and humanitarian assistance has triggered a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 147 Palestinians have died of starvation, including 88 children.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, including over 18,500 children, and wounded more than 145,000 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Despite Israel’s announcement of the resumption of humanitarian aid, international organisations have said the assistance remains insufficient to address the widespread famine across Gaza.
In a video posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday, Netanyahu stated: “In any path we choose, we will be forced to allow the entry of minimal humanitarian aid” to Gaza.
The following day, at a settlers' conference, Smotrich added: “No one in the world will allow us to starve two million citizens, and therefore we need to bring in aid.”
He added that Gaza was an “inseparable part of the Land of Israel” and said that Israel would not simply hand it from one Arab to another.
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