Netanyahu Defies Global Outcry, Insists On Gaza Takeover

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his government’s plan to “take over” Gaza City, insisting it is the “best way” to end the war and defeat Hamas, despite mounting international condemnation.

Speaking to reporters ahead of an emergency United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on Gaza, Netanyahu dismissed claims that Israel is deliberately starving civilians in the enclave.

“If Israel had a starvation policy, no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war,” he said.

“We will enable the civilian population to safely leave combat areas to designated safe zones where they will have ample food, security and medical care — as we’ve done before,” he added.

Netanyahu acknowledged there had been “deprivation” in Gaza but blamed the crisis on Hamas, accusing the group of looting aid.

“The deprivation in Gaza has been caused by Hamas,” he said, adding that the hostages held in the Strip are the only ones being “deliberately starved.”

Hamas has since denied stealing supplies, and recent US government findings reported by Reuters and CNN said there was no evidence of systematic theft of humanitarian aid.

The UK, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia issued a joint statement earlier on Sunday, warning that the Israeli plan “risks violating international humanitarian law” and urging it to be reversed.

According to them, it would not help secure the release of hostages and could further endanger their lives.

“This plan risks violating international humanitarian law… Hamas must disarm and play no future part in the governance of Gaza, where the Palestinian Authority must have a central role,” the statement read.

In Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll from malnutrition has reached 217, including 100 children.

Netanyahu rejected such reports as “Hamas propaganda hook, line and sinker” and accused international media of spreading “malignant lies.”

He said Israel is suing the New York Times for publishing a photo of a starving child who, he claimed, also had underlying health issues.

The prime minister outlined Israel’s five principles for ending the war to include the disarmament of Hamas, return of all hostages, demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, taking “overriding security control” in the territory, and the creation of an “alternative civil administration” that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu stressed that Israel is fixed on dismantling Hamas’s two remaining strongholds — Gaza City and the central camps, claiming that 70–75% of Gaza is already under Israeli control.

“This is the best way to end the war,” he said, adding that civilians would be moved to safe zones.

“We don’t want to stay in Gaza,” Netanyahu said. “Our goal is to make sure Hamas isn’t there. Gazans are begging us and begging the world to be freed from Hamas.”

At the UN, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča described Israel’s takeover plan as “another dangerous escalation of the conflict” and warned of a humanitarian catastrophe on an unimaginable scale.”

He reiterated calls for an “immediate ceasefire” and the release of all hostages, stressing that “Palestinians have their right to have their voices heard.”

Netanyahu Defies Global Outcry, Insists On Gaza Takeover is first published on The Whistler Newspaper