Israel to take full control of Gaza, says minister

Contradicting plans by the US-backed Board of Peace, senior Israeli minister says IDF moving towards full control of the Gaza Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

Energy Minister Eli Cohen (Likud) said Israel is steadily expanding its hold over the Gaza Strip and will ultimately need full control of the territory to prevent Hamas from rebuilding after the war.

Cohen, a member of the security cabinet, made the remarks in an interview with Galei Israel Radio, where he argued that Israel could not allow Hamas to reestablish itself militarily or politically.

“I say this because I sit in the security cabinet, and I understand that we cannot allow Hamas to raise its head again — not even by a millimeter,” Cohen said. “There is no such thing.”

Cohen said Israel’s control over Gaza had grown significantly in recent months and predicted that the trend would continue.

“We already see that we are progressing,” he said. “I assume you will speak to me again in a few months — our control of the territory will only continue to expand until we reach 100%.”

He said Israel had moved from controlling just over half of the Gaza Strip earlier in the year to nearly 70 percent today.

“If two months ago we controlled 53% of the Strip, about a month ago around 60%, and today we’re approaching 70% of the Strip’s area,” Cohen said.

In another interview with Galei Israel last week, Cohen put the policy even more directly, saying, “Our goal is to take full control of Gaza.”

“If two months ago we were at 53% of the territory of the Strip, today we are above 65% control,” he said. “In Lebanon, we took only a security strip and we have no intention of taking over the whole country. In Gaza, restoring security and dismantling Hamas require full control of all Gaza. I don’t see any other way.”

Cohen’s comments came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month instructed the IDF to expand Israeli control in Gaza toward 70 percent of the territory, according to reports aired by Israeli media. The move went beyond the previous ceasefire framework, under which Israeli troops had withdrawn to a line leaving them in control of about 53 percent of the Strip.

The expansion has intensified debate over Israel’s endgame in Gaza. Netanyahu has said Israel must prevent Hamas from returning to power and has spoken of maintaining overriding security control, while avoiding a clear public commitment on civilian resettlement or long-term governance.

Cohen framed the expanding territorial hold as a security necessity rather than a temporary battlefield measure, saying Hamas’s ability to reorganize means Israel cannot rely on outside actors to neutralize the group.

His remarks also followed Israeli media reports that Hamas has been trying to rebuild its military wing, including by recruiting young men, training Nukhba commandos and producing improvised explosive devices and rockets.

A recent Channel 13 report cited an internal document which showed Hamas working to restore capabilities damaged during the war and prepare for future fighting.

Israeli defense sources have made similar claims in recent weeks, saying Hamas is using pauses in fighting and areas outside full Israeli control to entrench, recruit and rebuild. Hamas has not disarmed, and efforts to establish a postwar governing mechanism in Gaza have remained stalled.