Israel on Friday announced that it plans to take military control of Gaza City, marking a significant escalation in its nearly two-year-long war against Palestinian militant group Hamas, AP reported.

“The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

The decision followed a late-night meeting of Israel’s Security Cabinet, which, by a majority vote, announced that any end to the war would be based on five key principles.

These principles were the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all hostages, the complete demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, continued Israeli security control in the territory and the establishment of a new civil administration that would exclude both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

However, despite the Security Cabinet’s approval, any final decision must still be endorsed by the full Israeli Cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday, Reuters reported, quoting two unidentified government officials.

The announcement follows Netanyahu’s remarks in an interview with Fox News on Thursday in which he said Israel intends to “take control of all Gaza” in order to “liberate” people from Hamas.

However, he insisted Tel Aviv has no plans to govern the enclave.

“We don’t want to keep it,” he said. “We want to have a security perimeter…We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began in October 2023 after Hamas killed 1,200 persons during its incursion into southern Israel and took hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza since then, leaving more than 61,000 persons dead.

Tel Aviv has also enforced a severe blockade on humanitarian aid, which UN officials say has brought the population to the verge of famine.

Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks since July 6. Earlier efforts to reinstate a brief ceasefire that took effect in January had stalled due to major disagreements between the two sides.

On Thursday, around 24 persons who are related to hostages still held by Hamas sailed from Ashkelon in southern Israel toward Gaza’s maritime border, broadcasting messages through loudspeakers demanding a ceasefire and criticizing the government for prolonging the war.

“Netanyahu is working only for himself,” AP quoted Yehuda Cohen as saying. His son Nimrod is among those still held in Gaza.

Axios journalist Barak Ravid, citing an unidentified Israeli official, reported that the Israeli military aims to forcibly evacuate all civilians from Gaza City by October 7.

“A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City,” he said.