Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said he left Israel from a weekend visit with a renewed belief in the U.S.-Israel relationship and the necessity of fully eradicating Hamas, as the IDF begins expanded operations in Gaza City.

“It just reinforced my position of the importance that the United States stands with Israel, and in supporting Israel in their mission to eradicate Hamas in Gaza,” Daines said in an interview with Jewish Insider this week, reflecting on a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There will never be true peace in Gaza and peace with Israel until Hamas is eradicated.”

He said that it’s also crucial for innocent Palestinians that Israel be successful in its mission to defeat Hamas. Daines said that he didn’t discuss the postwar vision for Gaza with Netanyahu, “but clearly the important first step will be eradicating Hamas.”

Daines said he’d also spoken to Netanyahu about the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, and that Netanyahu had offered his condolences.

“He also just shares my concerns about the dangerous ideologies that exist, and how that turns into violent acts,” Daines said. “So there was just some sadness on both of our parts that we shared about the loss of a great leader and somebody who was a strong supporter of Israel.”

The Montana senator reportedly helped broker a historic peace deal earlier this year between the long-warring Armenia and Azerbaijan, and said that he’d discussed that issue with Netanyahu.

“He was very encouraged by that as well, and of course, the close relationship that Azerbaijan has with Israel,” Daines said. “That’s some meaningful progress, now, that I think will deliver longer-term peace dividends and economic dividends for that part of the world.”

Daines said that he and Netanyahu did not discuss the Israeli strikes in Doha, Qatar, last week, beyond speaking broadly about the “importance of eliminating Hamas and eliminating their leadership and their command and control structure.”

“I think what Israel demonstrated is that no matter where these Hamas leaders are, they’re going to track them down,” Daines said, comparing Israel’s efforts to the U.S.’ post 9/11 pursuit of Osama bin Laden.

The Montana senator also visited Israeli communities close to the border with Gaza and attended an inaugural ceremony for the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David in Jerusalem, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Daines described his visit to the Nahal Oz military base as particularly affecting. He and his wife heard firsthand from a young female IDF soldier, who showed them videos of her friends who were “brutalized” by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.

“We were literally in the safe room that was turned into a room where the terrorists brutalized these young women Israeli soldiers. And then they took us into the control room where the Hamas terrorists locked the young female IDF soldiers and burned them to death,” Daines said. “It was very emotional.”

He said the experience was a reminder that “we’ve got to keep telling the story of what happened on Oct. 7,” and one he planned to share with his staff upon his return to Washington.

On the Gaza border, Daines said he could also hear F-16s flying overhead and the bombings in Gaza City.

Based on his visit to a humanitarian aid staging site at the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, Daines offered strong praise for the work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and Christian aid groups like Samaritan’s Purse, saying he was “struck [by] the clear contrast” between the way those groups are performing — “the standard of excellence and efficiency and execution” — in comparison to the United Nations-linked aid organizations. The GHF and Samaritans’ Purse “are doing it the right way,” he said.

“The U.N. is not using the same best practices as these other NGOs, and it’s just a mob scene with the men raiding these U.N. trucks — a lot of Hamas members — who are taking the aid and then … selling it,” Daines continued. “So the U.N. is propping up Hamas by giving them aid in a disorderly fashion. The people of Gaza suffer and Hamas profit[s].”

Daines said that the ceremony for the Pilgrimage Road was a “once-in-a-lifetime moment” that he’ll “never forget.”

“I was so proud of Secretary Rubio and Ambassador Huckabee. Their remarks were outstanding, and I think they captured the significance of the moment, the historical perspective around why the City of David excavation is so important, and literally and figuratively, bedrock for the Judeo-Christian faith and values,” Daines said. “I was proud to be an American that night, I was proud to be a friend of Israel.”

The Israel Defense Forces launched a major ground operation in Gaza City on Tuesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military announced.

“We started intensive action in Gaza,” Netanyahu said at the Tel Aviv District Court, where he asked to postpone his testimony in his ongoing corruption trial in light of “important things happening.”

The IDF operation, known as Gideon’s Chariots II, aims to seize Gaza City, one of two remaining areas of the Gaza Strip still under Hamas control and home to the vast majority of the enclave’s population at this point in the war, though the Israeli military said that a significant percentage of the city’s residents had fled the area ahead of the offensive.

The ground campaign in Gaza City follows several days of aerial bombings and fighting on the outskirts of the city. 

The new operation comes as Israel faces growing foreign and domestic pressure to end the war, which is nearing its two-year mark. The families of hostages being held in Gaza also warn that the ground campaign threatens their loved ones who are being held captive in the city. An IDF official said that the offensive in Gaza City was entering a “new phase,” targeting the network of Hamas-built tunnels after weeks of operating in the city’s periphery.

Two divisions entered Gaza City on Tuesday, and more will gradually be added, the military official said.

Gaza City is “Hamas’ main stronghold,” and the IDF expects to encounter 2,000-3,000 Hamas fighters there, the military official said. 

IDF Spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee posted on X warning residents of Gaza City that the IDF “has begun destroying infrastructure in Gaza City.” 

“Gaza City is considered a dangerous combat zone, and staying in the area puts you at risk,” he wrote. “Join the more than 40% of the city’s residents who have left the city to ensure their safety and the safety of their loved ones.” 

In recent weeks, Israel instructed residents to move south along designated routes, but fewer than half have done so, with Hamas threatening those who wished to leave the city and others refusing to move again. 

“Hamas is actively trying to block Gazans from moving out of Gaza City,” the IDF official said. “They are trying to turn Gaza City into one of the largest cases in history of using human shields, using hundreds of thousands of people.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that “Gaza is burning. The IDF is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist and IDF soldiers are fighting courageously to create the conditions to free the hostages and defeat Hamas.”

“We will not give up and will not retreat until we complete the mission,” he added.

The Israeli Air Force bombarded Gaza City on Monday night, with reverberations felt as far as central Israel. 

Meanwhile, Israel has demolished over 50 multistory buildings in Gaza City, which Netanyahu has called “terror towers.” The IDF official called the buildings “key targets … that would be used against us in a ground operation.”

Several hostages’ relatives set up tents outside of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem overnight Monday, amid Israeli Air Force strikes on Gaza. 

The Hostage Families Forum cited reports that some hostages have been moved above ground, and said that their loved ones are being “used as human shields.”

“The Prime Minister has decided to send IDF soldiers to areas where our loved ones are located, who might be harmed and not return alive,” the forum stated. “He is doing everything to ensure there is no deal and not to bring them back. … We are terrified that this might be their last night, that the living hostages will pay with their lives, that the deceased will disappear there. We are no longer willing to accept this. We came here this evening, and we are not moving from here.”

Hours before the Gaza City offensive began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed Israel after a two-day visit and headed to Qatar, who he said should continue mediating between Israel and Hamas to end the war and free the hostages.

“If any country in the world can help mediate it, Qatar is the one. They’re the ones that can do it,” Rubio said.

As Israel calls up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of a planned takeover of Gaza City and rejects ceasefire proposals that fall short of a comprehensive deal to end the war and release all of the hostages, Jerusalem finds itself facing calls both at home and abroad against further entrenchment in Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing pressure from Washington to end the war — with a decisive victory over Hamas.

President Donald Trump signaled his growing weariness with a protracted war in an exchange with The Daily Caller, published earlier this week, in which he said Israel is “gonna have to get that war over with,” noting that Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations.” Netanyahu said at his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Trump had instructed Israel to go into Gaza City with “full force.”

Days earlier, the president held a White House meeting that included Jared Kushner and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss a “day-after” plan for the Gaza Strip. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer scrapped a planned meeting with World Food Program head Cindy McCain to fly to Washington for consultations.

Taken together, Trump’s comments and last week’s gathering underscore the president’s dwindling patience with the ongoing war — concerns that have been highlighted in Israeli media reports in recent days.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Trump, frustrated by Hamas’ intransigence, is pushing Netanyahu to move more quickly to decisively defeat Hamas. That could pose a challenge for Israel, which has not been able to declare “total victory” against Hamas in nearly two years but now faces White House pressure to end the war in a short amount of time — “perhaps even within two weeks,” according to Channel 12. 

It remains unclear whether Israel is fully prepared for an incursion into Gaza City — the IDF announced on Wednesday that it will work in the coming weeks “to strengthen operational readiness in the Gaza Strip” — or is threatening the move as a negotiating tactic to push Hamas to accept a comprehensive deal, after the Prime Minister’s Office conveyed that it would not accept a partial agreement that doesn’t result in the release of all of the remaining hostages. 

Following the collapse of talks over the summer, Washington had reportedly been frustrated not only with Hamas but with Qatar, which presented a rosier-than-reality picture of the talks. Those frustrations shifted the White House’s calculus and boosted support for Netanyahu’s approach to Gaza.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site last month. 

Fresh off its successful resolution of the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Trump administration is looking to score another win on the global stage. Following last month’s summit in Alaska aimed, unsuccessfully, at ending the Russia-Ukraine war, a wind-down of the Israel-Hamas war would give the White House a diplomatic victory, as well as say in Gaza reconstruction efforts.

For now, Israel and the U.S. appear to be largely speaking in tandem, with a shared vision for the future of Gaza. But if Israel fails to achieve “total victory” on Trump’s truncated timeline, Jerusalem and Washington could be headed on a collision course. 

Israel is finalizing plans this week for a ground offensive into Gaza City, with the goal of having fully evacuated the city by the symbolic date of Oct. 7, 2025. Speaking at his weekly Sunday meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “complete the victory” over Hamas. Tens of thousands of IDF reservists will begin receiving call-up notices today in preparation for the offensive.

The plans come amid a renewed push for Palestinian statehood, led by France and Saudi Arabia, that has seen a surge in support from global heads of state, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

Palestinian statehood efforts also have support in Congress, where Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is leading a group of House Democrats in calling on President Donald Trump to recognize a Palestinian state.

But both objectives — “total victory” over Hamas and Palestinian statehood — are at present incompatible with the realities on the ground.

Netanyahu has not wavered from his stated objective of “total victory” — even as he has yet to articulate, in practical terms, what that looks like — or how the Gaza City offensive will achieve it.

The goal of “total victory” over Hamas also runs into the challenge that the U.S. and Western allies faced amid the spread of ISIS a decade ago — that eliminating a group’s top leadership (as Israel has done in its targeting of Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Marwan Issa, among others), but not its ideology, will attract new recruits to swell the ranks left empty by those who came before them. 

Outside of Israel, efforts to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood have ignored core challenges facing both Palestinian society and government, the former of which was plagued by antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric long before Oct. 7, 2023, and the latter of which has for decades been mired in corruption and nepotism and lacks the ground support needed for long-term stability.

Further, leading Israeli officials have described the renewed Palestinian statehood push as a reward for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks and view a path to statehood rooted in the deadliest attack in Israeli history as obscene — and one that ignores the long path of deradicalization and reforms necessary before such measures are discussed.

Marcus Sheff, the executive director of IMPACT-se, an NGO that monitors and provides recommendations for curricula and educational materials across the Arab world, noted that many of the European governments that back unilateral Palestinian statehood are the same nations that “directly or indirectly” fund Palestinian curricula that incite violence against Jews and Israelis, damaging efforts to prepare a population for statehood.

“To talk about any Palestinian state without taking on, headfirst, the necessity of deradicalizing Palestinians through the education system, and even worse, being a party to their radicalization by financing it, is actually quite bizarre,” Sheff added.

The limitations of reality are a reminder that wars are fought in clashes and not catchphrases, in policies rather than platitudes. It’s easier to declare a Palestinian state than to do the work of nation-building, just as it is easier to pledge “total victory” over a deeply entrenched ideology than to strategically chart the course of its defeat.

Tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the IDF, are as high as the record-setting temperatures that have swept the region.

The IDF’s top officials and the Israeli government have clashed on a series of issues in recent days, including the appointments of more than two dozen military officials and Zamir’s opposition to Netanyahu’s plan to take over Gaza City and expand IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, which was approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week.

The IDF chief of staff has warned that the new approach to Gaza risks the lives of the 20 remaining living hostages in the enclave, and would further deplete the military’s resources in Gaza. The army, under strain after nearly two years of war, has — even prior to Zamir’s appointment in March — been at odds with the government over the continued exemption of the majority of the country’s Haredi population from the mandatory conscription required of most Israelis.

Israel Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner told Jewish Insider this morning that “historically, the relationship between the political level — prime minister, defense minister — and the top brass of the defense establishment, and mainly the IDF chief of staff, has been based on the premise that when Israel engages or embarks on significant security endeavors, operations and so on, it’s based on mutual consent,” with both parties having “de facto … veto power.”

But now, Plesner said, Netanyahu “is violating this decision-making norm that characterized the way decisions on core security [and] national security issues were made in the past.”

Plesner pointed to IDI polling conducted earlier this summer that showed Zamir being the senior official in whom Israelis had the most trust, at 68.5%. The same poll found Netanyahu with a trust rating of 40%.

The potential removal of a senior official months into his tenure “was not in the cards in the past. A chief of staff would voice their professional opinion and they wouldn’t risk being fired.”

The clash between Netanyahu and Zamir has also drawn in former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is widely seen as one of the only people who could topple Netanyahu in the next election. Bennett attributed the infighting to Zamir’s opposition to the continuation of Haredi draft exemptions — an issue that has sowed division even within Netanyahu’s coalition and still threatens to topple the government.

“Instead of standing behind the army,” Bennett said, “the government has launched an attack *on* the army.”

Netanyahu has previously clashed with — and dismissed — senior military officials, most notably former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, whom Netanyahu first tried to fire in early 2024 but was met with mass protests, before ousting him in November 2024. Last summer, Israeli media reported tensions between the prime minister and Zamir’s predecessor, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, over Netanyahu’s suggestion that hostage talks had not moved forward because Hamas did not feel enough pressure from the country’s military. Netanyahu also pursued the dismissal of former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar whom he clashed with on a number of issues — including the hostage negotiations and war strategy — citing “continuing lack of trust.” 

Plesner pointed out that relations between Netanyahu and both Gallant and Halevi “very much soured around the fact that they were committed to implementing the Supreme Court ruling” that removed the Haredi draft exemption, and that Zamir, as chief of staff, similarly backs the conscription of the Haredi community as war fatigue plagues the reservists who have served hundreds of days in uniform since the start of the war.

Nearly all of the IDF’s top leaders from Oct. 7, 2023, have departed their roles, whether by choice or force, in the almost two years since the attacks. Netanyahu — who has long tried to absolve himself of responsibility for the attacks, instead blaming the military and the Shin Bet — remains the only senior government official from that time still in power. Analyst Nadav Pollak suggested that the prime minister has, since Oct. 7, been “trying to divert the blame from him to the military leadership (he didn’t know Hamas plans etc.) and as long as the focus is on the IDF leadership it’s not on Bibi.”

Now, with the Knesset out for the rest of the summer, ceasefire talks stalled and an immediate collapse of his government off the table, Netanyahu is able to buy some time — perhaps up to several weeks — as Israel’s top political and military brass game out and implement the government’s Gaza strategy. Meanwhile, observers will watch to see how Zamir will carry out Netanyahu’s orders.

The day after Israel’s Security Cabinet voted to seize control of Gaza City, the Hostages Families Forum organized a major protest in Tel Aviv against the decision, warning it would put their loved ones’ lives in danger.

But Tzvika Mor, father of hostage Eitan Mor, has been speaking out against the Cabinet decision for a different reason — he thinks the IDF should be pushing even more aggressively to take over the rest of Gaza.

Nearly two years since his son was kidnapped while working as a security guard at the Nova festival on Oct. 7, 2023, Mor, 48, has not wavered from his position that defeating Hamas must be Israel’s top priority in the war in Gaza, above the hostages.

Mor, who lives in Kiryat Arba, a settlement abutting Hebron in the West Bank, normally works as an ADHD coach. But since the Oct. 7 attacks, he has divided his time between advocating for the country’s victory over Hamas and serving as an IDF reservist in the Paratroopers’ Brigade. In the long term Mor wishes to see the entirety of Gaza become part of Israel, telling Jewish Insider in an interview on Sunday, “It is the land of the Tribe of Judah; it is ours.”

As chairman of the Tikvah Forum, a more hawkish minority group of hostage families than the larger and better-known Hostages Families Forum, Mor and several other hostages’ relatives oppose partial deals and the release of large numbers of terrorists, arguing that only sustained military pressure will bring all of the hostages home. Mor spoke out against the Israeli Security Cabinet’s recent decision in his interview with JI.

“The question isn’t what they’re going to do, but what is the goal. If the goal is to lead Hamas to negotiate, it will fail, just like in Gideon’s Chariots, which took five months and didn’t bring back the hostages and didn’t destroy Hamas,” Mor said, referring to the IDF operation that began earlier this year. “The goal cannot be to bring [Hamas] to talks; it must be to destroy them.”

Hamas, he said, is not motivated to return the hostages, because they have the food, fuel and water that they need to survive, but if they feared for their survival, the situation would be different.

Mor compared the situation to the story in Genesis in which Abraham’s nephew Lot is kidnapped by four kings, and Abraham took an army with him to fight the kings.

Abraham “didn’t talk to them. He didn’t pay them. He fought a war until they surrendered. That is the way,” Mor said. 

Mor said fighting to pressure Hamas to return to the table reflects an order of priorities that is both wrong and ineffective.

“The war cannot be about the hostages, and I say that as the father of a hostage. How many soldiers should be killed for the hostages?” he asked. “You don’t go to war to bring back hostages. You go to war for sovereignty, for deterrence. Then, when you win, you get your captives back.” 

Prioritizing the hostages “not only harms national security, but it also hurts the hostages, because Hamas learns that they’re the most important to us and raises the price all the time. It’s indescribable stupidity,” he lamented.

Mor warned that if Israel “concedes in Gaza, Hamas will never give up all of the hostages … And what would the message be to the Arabs in Judea and Samaria” – he asked, using the biblical name for the West Bank – “that kidnapping Israelis is the best thing to do?”

In the past, Mor said, “it was clear that there was no negotiating with terrorists. We would try to save our hostages and take risks, but we could not give in to terrorism.”

Mor cited research by the Yachin Research Center, which he said showed that four times more Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 2023 than in 1949-1992.

“That means that since Israel gave in to terrorism, more Israelis were murdered. It’s clear … That needs to stop,” he stated.

Asked about the concerns that other hostage families have expressed about expanded military action in Gaza putting their loved ones at risk, Mor responded with a question: “Is our war in Gaza necessary? If there weren’t hostages, would we still need to go to war?”

“The answer is yes, because [Hamas] cannot remain our neighbors after we saw what they can do, or they would do it again. They are religious people; they live for this. They don’t live for a nice house and a car and social status. Not for coffee shops and pilates. They live to kill Jews. They’re like zombies. You have to destroy them. The war would be necessary even if there were no hostages,” he said.

As such, Mor said, Israel must take the necessary steps to win the war in Gaza: “It cannot be that we will endanger 10 million Israelis because of the hostages. We need to solve that problem such that we are not harming national security.”

“We have fears, too,” he added, “but in war, some are hurt. Soldiers are injured in the war too.”

Mor and another one of his sons have been in combat units in the current war. Thirteen soldiers in Mor’s brigade have been killed.

Early in the war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with members of the Tikvah Forum, Hebrew news coverage accused the forum members of being Likud plants or, at least, being easier for Netanyahu to talk to than the Hostages Families Forum, whose early leadership included political campaigners involved in protests seeking to bring down his government.

Mor, however, has been and continues to be critical of Netanyahu, who he said he hasn’t spoken to in six months, and of Likud ministers who he has spoken to more recently, including Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel and Agriculture Minister and former Shin Bet director Avi Dichter.

“I tell them these things, but almost all of the ministers in Likud align with the prime minister and say we have to agree to partial [hostage] deals,” Mor lamented.

Mor says that he has faced pressure for raising a different voice from the more prominent hostage relatives, and that “people defame and curse me.” In December 2023, the father of another hostage accused him on live television of giving up on his son, leading Mor to start crying. 

“The Israeli media doesn’t help. They lead the campaign” against him, he said. “But I feel that I am a messenger of the people of Israel. It is clear to me that the people of Israel want to win … They are connected to their roots, to the Land of Israel and to Judaism. They don’t want to be sold dreams and delusions that ‘it will all be OK, we can give in to terror and then deal with it later.’ We can’t deal with it. If we surrender, we will pay a higher price.” 

Mor has not seen pictures or videos of his son Eitan, 25, since Oct. 7, 2023, but he said that the most recent sign of life he received was from Israeli intelligence services in February this year. 

“We don’t know anything except that he’s alive,” Mor said.

In May, Eitan’s mother, Efrat Mor, said she learned from another hostage released in the first deal in November 2023 that Eitan is using his “incredible social skills … both for himself and for the other hostages” to lift everyone’s spirits. 

Eitan is the eldest of eight children.

“He is very strong, physically and mentally. He was very Zionist. He was a fighter and commander in the Golani Brigade” of the IDF, his father said. “He’s not soft; he doesn’t whine. He is strong; he’s a leader. We are sure that if he is with other hostages, he is helping them and strengthening them.”

When Hamas terrorists attacked the Nova rave, Eitan contacted an uncle because his parents do not use phones on Shabbat. He said that he and his friends were hiding, and sent videos of terrorists on pickup trucks. He also sent his location so that his uncle could pass it on to the IDF. The last time he was in contact with his uncle was at 10:04 a.m. His parents did not know that he was at the party, and they did not find out about the Oct. 7 attacks or that their son had been taken hostage until the evening.

Later, Nova survivors said that Eitan left his hiding place and saved their lives, which his father said “tells you the most about him.”

“He could have gone home at 6:29, but he stayed to save people,” Mor said. “He hid people and ran with them until he was kidnapped at 12:30, not by Hamas but by Gazan civilians.”

Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City is meant to prevent further prolonging the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. 

The prime minister’s comments come as elements of the Israeli right and nearly all of the left have railed against the decision, further destabilizing the prime minister’s hold on Israel’s leadership.

In a video statement on Saturday night, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he had “lost trust that the prime minister can and wants to lead the IDF to a decisive victory.”

At the same time, tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against the Cabinet’s decision, calling for an immediate hostage deal.

Speaking Sunday at a press conference for foreign media in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said that “Hamas still has thousands of terrorists in Gaza … Hamas is refusing to lay down its arms, so Israel has no choice but to finish the job.”

”Contrary to false claims,” the prime minister argued, “this is the best way to end the war and to end it speedily.” 

Rather than take control of Gaza City, part of the remaining 25% of Gaza that Israel does not control, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir presented to the Security Cabinet on Thursday night a strategy of surrounding those areas, while expressing concern about the safety of the 20 hostages believed to still be alive if a military takeover is attempted.

As to whether Israel’s new plan puts hostages in further danger, Netanyahu said that “the option of just doing a war of attrition from a defensive position has not proved itself. It won’t bring [the hostages] out … [It will lead to a] protracted conflict that won’t bring the war to an end.”

”I don’t want to prolong the war. I want to end the war, and I think the other option would have prolonged the war,” he added. “Prolonging the war means that many of them could be starved to death.” 

Netanyahu also emphasized Israel’s “five principles for concluding the war,” authorized by the Security Cabinet, which he said were his “day-after plan” for Gaza. They consist of disarming Hamas, returning the hostages, demilitarizing Gaza, Israeli security control of the enclave and establishing a civilian administration for Gaza led by neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Though Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News last week that Israel plans to take control of all of Gaza, the Security Cabinet decision announced early Friday morning fell short of that. 

The Security Cabinet voted early Friday, after a 10-hour meeting that began the previous day, for the IDF to “prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.” 

Netanyahu continued to speak of the IDF seizing all of Gaza on Sunday, presenting an image of the “remaining Hamas strongholds” of Gaza City and the “central camps and Moassi,” a second enclave. A spokesperson for the prime minister clarified to Jewish Insider after the press conference that “the decision that was authorized is about Gaza City. Later, if needed, the central camps as well.”

Netanyahu said that, as Israel did before maneuvering into Rafah over a year ago, it plans to move the population out of Gaza City, “safeguard the civilian population and let us go, at last, into the most important stronghold of Hamas.” 

Gaza City is only part of the remaining 25% of Gaza not currently controlled by the IDF. Reports indicate that the IDF said  it will take two months to move the civilian population out of the city; Netanyahu said he instructed the military to do it in less time because he wants to finish the war as soon as possible.

That two-month window leaves an opening for another ceasefire deal as Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. are reportedly working on reviving negotiations.  

The plan was supported by “a decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers,” according to the Prime Minister’s Office. 

Smotrich accused Netanyahu of “making a U-turn” from a plan they devised together “to go all the way,” involving “dramatic moves to bring victory in Gaza, a combination of a quick military victory and an immediate diplomatic move to exact a painful price from Hamas, destroy its military and civilian capabilities, and put unprecedented pressure to free the hostages.” 

Instead, Smotrich argued, the Security Cabinet chose to support “an immoral, unreasonable folly,” that would involve “sending tens of thousands of fighters to maneuver in Gaza City while endangering their lives and paying heavy diplomatic and international prices, only to pressure Hamas to free hostages and then retreat.”

“I cannot back this decision. My conscience doesn’t allow it … No more stopping [the war] in the middle … We must make a clear, sharp move to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home all at once,” he stated.

Despite saying that he lost trust in Netanyahu, Smotrich did not say he was leaving the coalition. Instead, he called for another Security Cabinet meeting to further discuss Israel’s next steps in Gaza.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who, like Smotrich, has pushed for more aggressive moves in the war in Gaza, told Army Radio on Sunday that Smotrich turned down his offer to present an ultimatum to Netanyahu to quit the government if it does not accept a plan to “go in, destroy, conquer.” Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have called for Israel to fully occupy Gaza and build Israeli settlements in the enclave.

Smotrich’s outspoken criticism is a signal of the growing leverage he holds within Netanyahu’s volatile government. Netanyahu currently has a minority coalition, holding just 60 out of the Knesset’s 120 seats, making his political situation tenuous. The United Torah Judaism and Noam parties left the coalition last month over disputes relating to sanctions for Haredim who do not serve in the IDF.

Tzvi Sukkot, a lawmaker from Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party, wrote in a post on X on Sunday morning, “if we are going back to Oct. 6, 2023 and decide to give up on the war aims, it is an existential threat to the State of Israel. If that is the situation, in my humble opinion, we must go to an election.” 

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote Smotrich a letter asking for his support for a bill to disperse the Knesset, which would trigger an election.

“You admitted that the prime minister’s policy is not bringing a decisive victory in Gaza, is not bringing back our hostages and is not winning the war,” Lapid wrote. “You added that you cannot stand behind the prime minister and back him anymore. In light of this, I call you to join me in a letter to the Knesset speaker in which we can say there was a significant change in circumstances that justifies bringing up the bill to disperse the Knesset again.”

At the same time, the political opposition and the Hostages Families Forum spoke out against the more aggressive approach in Gaza approved by the Security Cabinet, pointing to Zamir’s opposition to the move.

Lapid called the decision “a disaster that will lead to many additional disasters.” 

“In total opposition to the opinion of the military and security levels, without consideration for the exhaustion and attrition of the fighting forces, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich dragged Netanyahu to a move that will take many months, will lead to the death of hostages, to many soldiers killed, will cost tens of billions of Israeli taxpayer money and will lead to diplomatic collapse. That’s just what Hamas wants,” Lapid said. 

“As we approach the tragic one-year anniversary of the murder of six hostages who were executed by their captors, the expansion of fighting only further endangers those still held in Gaza’s tunnels,” the forum stated. “Hamas continues to exploit military escalation as justification for its brutal treatment of our loved ones … Our government is leading us toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers. The Cabinet chose last night to embark on another march of recklessness, on the backs of the hostages, the soldiers, and Israeli society as a whole.”

Tens of thousands gathered for the weekly demonstrations in central Tel Aviv Saturday night, blocking the city’s central artery, the Ayalon Highway. Some of the hostages’ relatives called for a general strike on Sunday and for soldiers to refuse orders.

Shai Mozes, nephew of released hostage Gadi Mozes, said that following the Security Cabinet decision, “the mission you’ll be given is participation in killing the hostages. In this situation, there is no choice but to refuse.” 

Several hostages’ relatives expressed support for a general strike, as did Lapid. The Hi-Tech Forum, representing dozens of Israeli tech companies and hedge funds, said they would allow their employees to miss work if a strike is held.

The Histadrut, Israel’s national labor union, declined to support a strike, following a court ruling last year that they can only strike for explicitly labor-related reasons.

Netanyahu also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza in the press conference Sunday, saying that Israel’s “policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis while Hamas’ policy is to create it.”

Israel is working to avoid a humanitarian crisis by designating safe corridors for aid distribution, increasing safe distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and continuing airdrops by Israel and other countries, he said.

”The only ones being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” Netanyahu argued, displaying a screenshot from a video Hamas released last week of hostage Evyatar David and contrasting his emaciated arm with the much thicker one of his captor.

Netanyahu also displayed photographs of children from Gaza who appeared in the foreign media alongside claims that they had been starved by Israel, and listed the congenital diseases from which they suffered that were not originally reported. He said his office is looking into whether Israel can sue The New York Times over the matter.

The prime minister compared the claims to blood libels: “We were said to be spreading vermin in Christian society; we were said to be poisoning the wells; we were said to slaughter Christian children for blood. That was followed by massive violence, pogroms, displacement, followed by the worst of all, the Holocaust.”

”The international press is falling for Hamas propaganda, hook line and sinker,” he added, standing next to the text “Open your eyes to Hamas’s lies.” 

Netanyahu also said he had ordered the IDF to allow more foreign journalists into Gaza.

However, he stated, “We will not commit suicide to get a good op-ed.

Additional pro-Israel Democrats joined colleagues on Friday in criticizing Israel’s plans to take over Gaza City, which were approved Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intends to take over Gaza City as part of an expanded military operation.

It’s a further sign that Israel’s ongoing war plans are causing growing gaps between the Jewish state and some of the country’s most critical left-of-center allies in Washington.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a co-chair of the House Jewish caucus and pro-Israel stalwart who is currently visiting Israel, said in a statement that the plan to take over Gaza City “is tactically questionable and strategically self-defeating.”

“If implemented, the decision is more likely to play into Hamas’s original objectives in starting this war and further unite much of the world against Israel than it is to bring home the last surviving hostages and advance the security needs of the nation,” Schneider continued. “In fighting what is unquestionably an existential war against absolute evil, Israel must also uphold its responsibility to do all it can to protect civilians in Gaza and enable humanitarian aid to reach those in need.”

At the same time, he emphasized that Hamas started the war with the intent of eliminating Israel, and that Israel has the “absolute right” to defend itself and free the hostages. He said that if the world wants the war to end, it must commit to working with Israel, the U.S. and European and Arab states to “open new pathways for relief, recovery and renewal.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) warned in a statement that Israeli military officials oppose the Gaza occupation effort and that it “could extend [the war] for years, will only result in further loss of life among the hostages, Palestinian civilians, and the members of the IDF required to undertake such a calamitous task. The situation in Gaza is unendurable; this will make it worse. This war must end, not escalate.”

“To be clear: Hamas must be held to account for its mass murder, torture, and rape of Israelis, and for any diversion of food from those who are hungry. No call upon the Israeli government to act to stop this unendurable suffering by civilians in Gaza can ignore the barbaric acts committed by Hamas that brought this war about, the need to ensure they can never threaten Israel again, and the even more urgent need for the release of all of the hostages,” Schiff continued. “The international community must be persistent in its demand for the immediate release of the hostages and not ignore the casus belli of this terrible war.”

He said that the U.S.-Israel relationship should transcend any particular government on either side, and urged U.S. allies not to abandon Israel, “But that does not mean we can or should ignore or fail to call out continued perilous action — and inaction — by both this Prime Minister and this President — and insist on a dramatic change in the policies of both.”

Schiff added, “I find no shared value in the preventable starvation of the people of Gaza. I see no common principle in the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or plans for settler colonies there, only a moral and legal failing of terrible proportion. I am compelled to speak out, because I believe in an Israel that has been, and can be again, a light unto other nations.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) called the Gaza City plan “a dangerous and counterproductive move that will not secure the release of the remaining hostages or bring an end to the fighting that has already taken so many lives.”

“This approach will without question worsen the already terrible humanitarian conditions in Gaza, and Israel’s own military leaders have expressed serious concerns about the feasibility and risks of this strategy,” Warner continued. “The priority must be to end this war immediately through diplomatic efforts and coordinated pressure to ensure the safe return of hostages and protect innocent lives. Pursuing this path will only guarantee prolonged conflict and greater suffering.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), one of Israel’s most vocal defenders in the House, took a somewhat different tack, saying in a statement and an interview on CNN that Netanyahu had told him in a meeting this week that Israel does not plan to occupy Gaza in the long term.

“I’m opposed to long-term occupation and annexation — but Hamas must go,” Gottheimer said on X. “I strongly support crushing Hamas terrorists and their last strongholds. I fervently back surging humanitarian aid and preventing Hamas from blocking it. We must urgently free the hostages being starved by Hamas, remove Hamas from power, and transition to an Arab-led peacekeeping force to bring lasting peace and safety for both innocent Palestinians and Israelis.”

He said in the CNN interview that Hamas could end the war by agreeing to surrender.

The Anti-Defamation League also voiced “significant reservations about the Israeli Cabinet’s decision to expand operations in Gaza” in a statement on Friday. The group declined to weigh in on the strategy involved but said that the move could further endanger the hostages and worsen the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians.

Democratic Majority for Israel said that “Pro-Israel Democrats have questions and concerns about the reported escalation of the conflict,” while emphasizing Hamas’ responsibility for the war and the need for a deal to free the hostages and increase humanitarian aid.

“We call on the Trump Administration to ensure sufficient humanitarian assistance and exert maximum pressure on Arab states such as Qatar to force Hamas to accept a ceasefire and free the hostages,” the DMFI statement continued.

The American Jewish Committee, one of the leading global Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy organizations, expressed its “deep apprehension” over the Israeli Security Cabinet’s vote to move forward with a military takeover of Gaza City, in a statement released by the organization on Friday.

AJC acknowledged the “extraordinary challenges” Israel faces due to Hamas’ “intransigence” in negotiations and the “failure of the international community to impose sufficient pressure on the terrorist organization.”

“Still,” the statement read, “the profound risks posed by a full military takeover of Gaza City cannot be overlooked.” It highlighted concerns over “endanger[ing] the lives of the remaining hostages” and the possibility of “substantial casualties among both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians,” in particular.

AJC called on the signatories of the New York Declaration — signed last month by dozens of countries including member states of the Arab League and European Union — to “apply maximum pressure on Hamas to agree to a hostage release and ceasefire agreement.” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Thursday that Israel plans to take control of additional parts of the Gaza Strip before handing it over to an unspecified Arab governing authority is being met with hesitation from even some of Israel’s most stalwart defenders. The Security Cabinet voted early this morning to take control of Gaza City, stopping short of the full occupation previously discussed.

Throughout much of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli public broadly supported the military effort, even as progressive lawmakers such as Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) painted the war as “Netanyahu’s war,” and the Israeli prime minister as the bogeyman-in-chief. 

But in recent months, public sentiment in Israel has shifted noticeably. With most of Hamas’ senior military leadership eliminated, growing numbers of Israelis have begun to question the feasibility of Netanyahu’s goal of “total victory” over Hamas, given the terror group’s hold on the Gazan population and a lack of clarity on what’s left to accomplish militarily. Instead, polling shows that a large majority of Israelis prefer prioritizing a diplomatic resolution that secures the release of the remaining hostages, rather than expanding the military occupation of Gaza in hopes of complete surrender.

Netanyahu’s plan this week to occupy more of Gaza has begun to sap Israel’s political capital even among some of its closest allies on Capitol Hill, not to mention the isolation the Jewish state is facing from less-friendly European capitals. Even within the American Jewish community, as the war drags on into its 23rd month and with mounting IDF fatalities and no living hostages having been released since May, splits have emerged over the wisdom of Netanyahu’s double-down strategy.

Indeed, while the official Israeli position on its war against Hamas in Gaza has hardened, the approach in the Diaspora, both from Jewish groups and leaders and elected officials, has also shifted — in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, the families of hostages, whose desperation has been deepened by recent videos and images of emaciated captives, have escalated their efforts, taking to the sea in a flotilla that sailed toward Gaza on Thursday in an effort to raise awareness about the plight of their loved ones.

Netanyahu, still mired in legal issues, finds himself in a bind of his own making amid mounting global pressure to end the war and let aid flow freely into Gaza — which contrasts sharply with right-wing members of his coalition who loudly call for the opposite, even as top IDF brass opposes a full Gaza takeover. Speaking from the Temple Mount/Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem earlier this week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Israel to “conquer all of Gaza, declare sovereignty over the entire Strip, eliminate every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary emigration.”

On Capitol Hill, Israel’s traditional allies in the Democratic caucus — including some who have given Netanyahu leeway to press forward in Gaza in the past, even when it meant butting heads with the Biden administration — are beginning to shift. 

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod that Israel is ultimately responsible for making its own decisions, but said he’d advise the Israeli government to seek an end to the war once the remaining 50 hostages are freed.

“The war fatigue and post-traumatic stress in Israeli civil society and in the Israeli military — as well as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — have become unbearable,” Torres said. “Israel has degraded Hamas. And so once Israel has secured the release of the hostages, it should declare victory, end the war and focus on expanding the Abraham Accords to include relations with the likes of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.” More reactions from Torres and other Democratic lawmakers here.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) said in a statement on Thursday that “Netanyahu’s personal and political interests are guiding Israel’s actions” and slammed the prime minister’s “ineffective military operation in Gaza,” which, he added, “has only led to more unnecessary deaths.”

Earlier this week, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) – who in 2022 was one of the first major recipients of support from AIPAC’s super PAC— announced she was signing onto legislation to ban offensive arms sales to Israel.

The New York Times’ Bret Stephens warned this week, “If Netanyahu makes the colossal mistake of trying to reoccupy Gaza for the long term, then no thoughtful person can be pro-Israel without also being against him.”

The new shift in tone — exacerbated by mounting concerns about humanitarian aid in Gaza and bolstered by Netanyahu’s recent efforts to prolong the war in Gaza — extends beyond Washington and the media elite to some of the leading Jewish communal organizations, figures and philanthropists, dozens of whom signed onto a letter to Netanyahu this week, condemning his government’s policies and rhetoric for causing “lasting damage” to Israel and Diaspora Jewry and calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy here.

Mainstream groups and officials, such as the American Jewish Committee and U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, have in recent days expressed deep concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the prosecution of the war.

Israel finds itself, 22 months after Hamas’ attacks, at war at home and abroad. Hamas’ attack didn’t resolve the issues that had caused divisions in Israeli society in the months leading up to Oct. 7, 2023. The national cohesion following the horrific attacks has dissipated, and now segments of Israeli society are again at odds with each other, as Israel finds itself needing to win back invaluable political capital even as its leadership is taking it for granted. 

Pro-Israel Democrats on Thursday criticized the Israeli government’s plans to expand its operations and take control of additional parts of Gaza.

The Israeli Security Cabinet early Friday approved plans to take over Gaza City, though it stopped short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement earlier Thursday to Fox News that Israel plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip.

The plan seems to be aggravating the growing friction between the Israeli government and some of the Jewish state’s most vocal liberal backers in the United States over Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said that Israel is ultimately responsible for making its own decisions, but said he’d advise the Israeli government to seek an end to the war once it frees the hostages.

“First: the highest priority is to secure the release of the hostages who are at grave risk of dying from deliberate starvation and torture,” Torres told Jewish Insider. “Second: the war in Gaza is in danger of becoming a quagmire that bogs Israel down for years — indeed decades — to come.”

He again said the war risks becoming a long-term entanglement like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were for the United States, costing both money and lives.

“The war fatigue and post-traumatic stress in Israeli civil society and in the Israeli military — as well as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — have become unbearable,” Torres continued. “Israel has degraded Hamas. And so once Israel has secured the release of the hostages, it should declare victory, end the war, and focus on expanding the Abraham Accords to include relations with the likes of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) pushed back on suggestions by Netanyahu in his announcement of the new Gaza plan that governance would ultimately be turned over to Arab forces.

“Netanyahu said: ‘We don’t want to keep Gaza. We want a security perimeter. We want to hand Gaza over to Arab forces that will govern Gaza properly,’” Auchincloss said to JI. “My question is: What Arab force has agreed to this? What is the plan for governance? There is no evidence that either exists.” 

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) said that Israel should prioritize increasing humanitarian aid and protecting civilians.

“Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorist threats. At the same time, I believe it is in the interest of Israel, the United States, and the entire region to prioritize efforts that protect innocent lives and stabilize the situation,” Frankel said. “That means working urgently to get food, water and medicine to civilians in Gaza while continuing to support Israel’s long-term security. I remain committed to a path that ensures the safety of the Israeli people and upholds our shared humanitarian values.”

In a lengthy statement released hours before Netanyahu’s formal announcement, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) blasted both Netanyahu and the situation in Gaza, saying that Netanyahu’s decisions are being motivated by the prime minister’s self-interest, rather than Israel’s best interests. He unequivocally rejected discussion of full occupation of Gaza.

“The current crisis in Gaza shocks the conscience. The international community — especially Israel and the United States — must immediately put an end to this humanitarian catastrophe,” Goldman said. “It is clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s personal and political interests are guiding Israel’s actions, rather than what is best for the Israeli people or for the nation of Israel. He is beholden to the extreme right, whose support he needs to remain in power, which, in turn, is helpful to defend against his corruption case.”

Goldman continued, “To the extent a full occupation is indeed his plan, it is not only morally reprehensible, but it is also opposed by Israeli military and national security leaders as well as the Israeli people.”

He said that the international community must come together to free the hostages, end the war and surge aid into Gaza, which requires “unified international pressure on Hamas,” and said that international recognition of a Palestinian state before the hostages are released “only serves to reward” Hamas and disincentivize it from agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage deal.

“Fundamentally, Prime Minister Netanyahu must stop putting his own personal interests ahead of the state of Israel’s,” Goldman concluded. “The sacredness of human life and Israel’s sacrosanct place as a democracy and safe haven for the Jewish people are simply too important to be sacrificed on the altar of political self-interest.” 

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), in a new statement on Thursday, did not directly address the new Israeli plans, but said that all parties must work to “surge humanitarian aid to the people Gaza — not Hamas or criminal gangs” to the point of eliminating scarcity.

“I welcome the steps Israel has taken, including instituting humanitarian pauses and conducting airdrops of aid. However, these steps alone are not sufficient — it is clear that the current aid delivery system needs to be scaled up to adequately meet the needs in Gaza,” Sherman said. “That includes significantly increasing the number of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s distribution sites to prevent crowding, establishing safer distribution processes, and distributing higher quantities of aid each and every day.”

He also urged the United Nations and NGOs to “stop playing politics,” work with the GHF and distribute the food stockpiles sitting inside Gaza. And he said that those who criticize Israel without pressuring Hamas or acknowledging its starvation of hostages only encourage the terrorist group to keep fighting.

“The fastest way to alleviate the suffering of Gazans and the hostages is for Hamas to release the hostages and lay down its arms and depart for Iran or another country willing to accept them. This would pave the way for legitimate Arab-led governance and allowing Gaza to be rebuilt,” Sherman continued.

Pro-Israel Republicans, meanwhile, are supporting Netanyahu’s latest moves.

“The fastest way for this conflict to end is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. In the absence of that — Hamas has continually refused the terms of a ceasefire — Israel must take the necessary steps to eliminate Hamas,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs a key House subcommittee focused on the Middle East, told JI. “Simply put, there cannot be peace so long as Hamas and the Palestinian Authority remain in power. I support Israel’s decision to use all military and diplomatic means to achieve their objectives, while continuing to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to the innocent Palestinians long suffering under Hamas’ brutal oppression.” 

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) said in an X post he supports Netanyahu’s “proposal to provide governance to Gaza. This will protect Israeli civilians from Hamas rocket attacks whose covenant is to murder all Jews. It will also allow for safe delivery of food for the people of Gaza. Mutually beneficial to everyone.”

Asked about the Israeli government’s decision, AIPAC placed the blame on Hamas.

“This war is only being extended because Hamas refuses to free all 50 hostages and surrender power in Gaza,” the group said in a statement. “America’s leaders must continue to stand with our ally Israel and take concrete steps that increase the pressure on Hamas to let all the hostages go and give up control of Gaza.”

Vocal critics of the Israel government on Capitol Hill blasted the new plan.

“Netanyahu’s plan to reoccupy Gaza is key to the far-right’s goal of taking over Gaza & the West Bank and forcing Palestinians out,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said on X. “Meanwhile, Trump is making us a subcontractor in this operation. US taxpayers should not be funding what amounts to ethnic cleansing by another name.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) said on X that the move toward full occupation of the Strip is “unacceptable and will not lead to safety and security for Israelis or Palestinians.” He renewed his call for the U.S. to stop providing weapons to Israel.