Israel's Netanyahu: "If Hamas refuses to release hostages, occupation will follow"

Possibility of Reoccupation of Gaza Strip
Draws Attention 20 Years After Israeli Withdrawal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is presiding over a cabinet meeting at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv on December 17, 2023 (local time). The Times of Israel reported on the 26th that Prime Minister Netanyahu directly mentioned the possibility of reoccupying the Palestinian Gaza Strip. / AFP News Agency · Yonhap News Agency

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly mentioned the possibility of reoccupying the Palestinian Gaza Strip, according to a report by the Times of Israel on the 26th (local time).

In a speech to the Knesset on the same day, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, "Fighting continues in the Gaza Strip," and added, "The more Hamas refuses to release hostages, the more pressure we will apply." He further explained, "This includes occupying territory, among other things. I will not go into all the details here."

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip following the 1967 Six-Day War but withdrew its citizens and military from the area in 2005, evacuating 21 Jewish settlements after 38 years. Even after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 due to a surprise attack by the Palestinian armed group Hamas, Israel focused on rescuing hostages and suppressing Hamas rather than aiming for occupation.

However, with the ceasefire between the two sides expiring this month and extension negotiations deadlocked, fighting resumed, and the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip began to be discussed, especially among hardliners in the Israeli cabinet.

On the 21st, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Katz warned, "The more Hamas refuses to release hostages, the more territory it will lose, and this will be annexed by Israel." He also mentioned, "If the hostages are not released, Israel will gradually take control of more territory in the Gaza Strip for permanent control."

According to a report by the British daily Financial Times (FT) on the 24th, the Israeli military has drafted a plan for a reoccupation operation of the Gaza Strip and submitted it to the security cabinet. The core of the plan is to deploy several combat divisions to attack the Gaza Strip, suppress the remaining Hamas forces, and then have the military take effective control of governance.