The Palestinian militant group Hamas has threatened consequences if Israel moves forward with the full occupation of Gaza.

The Israeli military would pay a "costly price" for an escalation of the fighting, the Islamist group said in a statement, as the Israeli Security Cabinet met to decide on next steps in the 22-month war.

Hamas vowed that Gaza would remain "immune to occupation and external guardianship from outside," accusing the Israeli leadership of sacrificing the hostages still being held in the coastal territory.

According to Israeli estimates, 50 hostages are still being held by Hamas and other extremist groups, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

In an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his intention to take full control of the Gaza Strip.

However, Israeli media have reported that the military is warning against a full capture of the territory, which could jeopardize the hostages and prove costly for ground forces.

Netanyahu said Israel does not want to occupy the territory permanently, but rather liberate it from Hamas in order to eventually hand it over to other forces.

According to Netanyahu, these would have to be forces that do not call for the destruction of Israel like the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas.

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Who owns Gaza?

As Israel's occupation plans looms...

The UN said that Netanyahu's plans risk 'catastrophic consequences' for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages. 

Occupying Gaza is the only way to ensure Israel's security and wipe out Hamas, claimed Benjamin Netanyahu as he announced that the Israeli army will "take control of Gaza City".

The UN said that the move risks "catastrophic consequences" for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages, and there has also been condemnation from world leaders, the Israeli military and relatives of the hostages.

Who owns Gaza?

Before Israel was established in 1948, the area now known as Gaza was "part of the large swathe" of the Middle East that was under British colonial rule, said South China Morning Post.

Upon the foundation of Israel, 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes. Tens of thousands of them "flocked" to the "strip of land wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea", which was handed to the control of the Egyptian army.

During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel took control of Gaza from Egypt and began to build settlements on the land. Then, after Israel and the Palestinians agreed the Oslo Accords in 1993, control of Gaza was handed to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

In 2005, Israel performed a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, uprooting all of its troops and thousands of settlers. Within months, Hamas won parliamentary elections in Gaza and aggressively seized control of the territory from the PA. In response, Israel imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, which some argued was another form of occupation.

What is the legal definition of 'occupation'?

According to Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Regulations a territory is considered occupied "when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army". Israel is not a party to the Fourth Hague Convention but it's "considered customary international law" and, therefore it "still binds Israel", said Atlantic Council.

What might happen next?

There are fears that settler movements may seize the opportunity to try and return to Gaza, said Leonie Fleischmann on The Conversation. Since Israel began its "onslaught" in the strip, settler groups have been calling for the resettlement of Gaza and although it's "not yet clear" whether Netanyahu plans to allow the establishment of civilian settlements there, "historical precedent makes this a very real possibility".

Some have speculated, however, that the "threat of full occupation" is just part of a "strategy" to pressure Hamas to make concessions in "stalled talks", said Hugo Bachega, the BBC's Middle East correspondent. "We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body," Netanyahu has said. We "want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life."

How these aims are realised is less than clear, as Jonathan Sacerdoti noted in The Spectator. "Politically", the notion of "long-term Israeli security control over Gaza" without annexation or direct governance presents an "unsolved riddle: who will take responsibility for civil life once the guns fall silent"?

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Israeli Cabinet approves Netanyahu's plan for Gaza City occupation

The Israeli Security Cabinet early on Friday approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take military control of Gaza City and to disarm Palestinian militant organization Hamas, according to a statement by the premier's office.

The statement said that the Cabinet approved a takeover by the Israeli military of Gaza City, in the north of the territory, while providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones.

Netanyahu's office said the Cabinet approved a plan by the premier which would see the disarmament of Hamas, the return of hostages to Israel, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip" in exchange for an end to the war, which has been raging for 22 months.

The plan also requires that the territory be ruled by an "alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority."

The approval of the plan came after a Security Cabinet meeting lasting more than 10 hours and ending on Friday morning.

The plan did not specify whether Israel would be seeking to take over the entire Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had said on Thursday was part of his plan.

On Thursday, Netanyahu told US broadcaster Fox News: "We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel."

"That's what we want to do," Netanyahu said in an excerpt of the interview. "We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas."

Israel is estimated to currently control around 75% of the largely destroyed territory, which is home to roughly 2 million Palestinians.

A full occupation could take the Israeli military up to six months to complete, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

Israeli TV station N12, citing a senior official, reported on Friday that the operation approved by the Security Cabinet would target only Gaza City. According to the report, residents are to be evacuated to refugee camps in central Gaza by early October. There was no immediate official confirmation of N12's report or further details.

Possible negotiation tactics in ceasefire talks

Months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a new ceasefire and the release of more hostages have so far yielded no results.

"I understand exactly what Hamas wants. It doesn't want a deal," Netanyahu said in a video message on Sunday.

He said that recent videos released by the militant group had only strengthened his resolve to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home.

Some media outlets have speculated that the latest announcement of expanded military operations could be a negotiating tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas in ceasefire talks.

Israeli politicians have hinted at such a strategy. N12 reported that mediators Qatar and Egypt are already pressing Hamas to return to the negotiating table.

Around 50 hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, of whom about 20 are believed to still be alive.

The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and around 250 abducted.

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the ensuing conflict, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip.

The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations.

The UN on Thursday voiced strong opposition to an expansion of Israel's offensive. "There's the prospect of huge levels of humanitarian suffering, including potential starvations that could worsen if the conflict gets worse," UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York.