Israel's plan to occupy Gaza

Israel's security cabinet this week approved a new plan which, according to one official, entailed "the conquest of the Gaza Strip" and its indefinite occupation.

Under the plan, dubbed "Operation Gideon's Chariots", Israel will send thousands of troops into Gaza later this month. Rather than attacking Hamas targets then retreating – Israel's strategy until now – troops will remain to stop Hamas regrouping. Officials said the population would have to be moved for their "protection"; there has also been talk of "voluntary" removals abroad. "We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip," said the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

The Israeli cabinet also approved a plan to allow aid into the Strip via Israeli-controlled "distribution hubs". Owing to Israel's blockade, the UN and other agencies have not been able to deliver food, fuel and other aid for over two months.

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This plan "marks a turning point in the 19-month-old war", and a shift in Israel's "tactics and philosophy", said The Jerusalem Post. While the previous approach was "effective in degrading Hamas's military capabilities", it "failed to dislodge its civilian rule", or to secure the release of the 59 hostages still in Gaza, 24 of whom are thought to be alive. Ministers and the new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, are banking on a new aggressive strategy achieving what phase one of the war did not.

It's not without political risk, however: many Israelis will not support this new campaign. Each new offensive makes it harder not to suspect that Prime Minister Netanyahu's true aim is "to ensure Gaza is uninhabitable and drive Palestinians from their land", said the FT. At any rate, the plan is sure to add to the "unfathomable suffering" of Gaza's 2.1 million residents, who will be driven into "ever-narrowing pockets of the shattered Strip". Astonishingly, Israel's allies have barely commented on the proposal. "They should be ashamed of their silence."