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.

The Israel Defense Forces would prepare for the takeover while distributing humanitarian assistance to civilians outside the combat zones, according to the statement.

But in a swift reaction, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Israel is “wrong” to approve plans to occupy Gaza City, and urged it to reconsider the new offensive.

With a majority vote, the cabinet adopted the five principles for “concluding the war”: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all the hostages, both the living and the deceased and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip.

Other principles include demilitarisation of Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; and the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

A decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.

The statement did not elaborate on the plan but appeared to refer to a proposal by military chief Eyal Zamir, who opposes occupying the Gaza Strip, citing concerns over a humanitarian disaster and the safety of hostages.

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.

“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 health authorities said.

Israel ‘wrong’ to escalate war with Gaza City takeover plan – Starmer

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Israel is “wrong” to approve plans to occupy Gaza City, and urged it to reconsider the new offensive.

Starmer’s intervention comes after Benjamin Netanyahu’s war Cabinet approved plans for a major escalation in the conflict.

The Israeli plan stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza, as had been touted ahead of the war Cabinet meeting. But Starmer insisted Israel should de-escalate, rather than launch the operation.

Starmer said: “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.

“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.”

He added: “Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions.

“What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas, and a negotiated solution. Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm”.