Israel Plans to Occupy Gaza City, Displacing Tens of Thousands

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan on Thursday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military occupation of Gaza City. The plan involves displacing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including many who had already been forced to flee northern Gaza, to camps in central Gaza.

Netanyahu had earlier said Israel intended to take over all of the Gaza Strip, but the plan only mentions Gaza City.

“The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Israel’s military claimed.

Reports in Israeli media say the plan initially focuses on taking full control of Gaza City, displacing its one million residents further south. Forces would also take control of refugee camps in central Gaza.

The Israeli security cabinet’s approval of an expansion of the war would includes more than one phase, according to CNN, citing an Israeli source.

The deadline for the first phase is October 7, according to the source. October 7, 2025, is the second anniversary of Israel’s war in Gaza.

A second source said that the plan calls for no aid distribution within Gaza City as a means of forcing Palestinians to flee.

The UN has warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli captives held in Gaza. The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said it would be “a huge mistake”.

The Israeli military currently takes control of about three-quarters of Gaza, and almost all of its 2.1 million citizens are now in the quarter of the territory that the military does not control.

The UN estimates some 87% of Gaza is either in militarised zones or under evacuation orders.

There are areas in central Gaza and along the Mediterranean coast that Israel does not occupy, according to the UN.

These include refugee camps, where much of Gaza’s population is now living after their homes were destroyed by Israel. The vast majority of Gaza’s population has already been displaced by the war, many people several times over.

Top UN official Miroslav Jenča told the UN Security Council earlier this week that a plan to occupy Gaza would be against international law and was a “deeply alarming” prospect.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that taking over Gaza was “really up to Israel”.

“Where Should We Go? We’re Already Starving and Displaced”

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza have voiced outrage and fear in response to the announced plan.

Mohamed Shabaan, who was already displaced from his home in the Tuffah neighborhood, which was completely destroyed in Israeli airstrikes, called the plan a “disaster.”

“We’re already living in a disaster. We are starving and displaced. Where should we go next?” he told Quds News Network.

Shabaan added that people simply cannot endure being forcibly displaced over and over again.

“People have no money. They’re starving, their children are starving. Bombing is everywhere. We are tired and exhausted.”

Aya Naim, a displaced widow and mother of a two-year-old boy, said she has nowhere to go if the plan is implemented.”

“I have no money to buy a tent or flee with the little I have. My child is starving, and the situation is already deteriorating.”

She added, “We were displaced to the south last year. This is insane. I have no family except my child. I’m afraid for him. There is no safe place. No food. No water. No life.”

“Haven’t they had enough of killing and destroying?” she continued.

“There is nothing left to occupy. There is no Gaza left. Israel has already destroyed all of Gaza and squeezed all of it into the western part of Gaza City, and that’s all that’s left,” Houssam al-Kahlout said.