Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City -- statement

JERUSALEM, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Friday.

Israel intended to take control of all of Gaza to "assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza," Netanyahu said on Thursday in an interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting.

"We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life," he said.

In response, Hamas said in a statement that it considers Netanyahu's statements to represent "a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round."

At least 9,752 Palestinians have been killed and 40,004 others injured since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in Gaza on March 18, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 61,258, and injuries to 152,045, Gaza-based health authorities said Thursday. ■