Netanyahu Pushes Full Occupation Of Gaza With Trump’s Backing: A Pretext For Permanent Annexation, Critics Warn.

Despite the carefully staged political theatre orchestrated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, complete with hostage diplomacy, ceasefire ultimatums, and public appeals to “humanitarian solutions” the intentions behind Israel’s latest military shift appear increasingly unambiguous: the permanent occupation and eventual annexation of the Gaza Strip, and, with it, the remaining occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).

This week, Israeli media revealed that Netanyahu has given the green light for a full-scale reoccupation of Gaza, with military operations now extending into central refugee camps and areas where Israeli hostages are believed to be held. Citing senior Israeli officials, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a source close to the prime minister: “The die is cast, we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip… if the IDF Chief of Staff doesn’t agree, he can resign.”

The decision marks the most aggressive shift in Israeli war policy since the October 2023 assault began and comes as Netanyahu faces mounting international legal pressure, domestic unrest, and intensifying accusations that he is prolonging the war for political survival. A senior Israeli security official told KAN: “We turned our back on a nearly finalised deal for a partial hostage release. The gaps were bridgeable. Israel wasted the opportunity.”

“Political Theatre,” Disguising A Land Grab:

Though pitched to the public as a necessary step to “defeat Hamas,” human rights advocates and regional analysts argue the latest manoeuvre is part of a long-standing agenda to dismantle Palestinian national claims and cement Israeli sovereignty over all territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

“Despite the political theatre whipped up by Netanyahu and Trump, their intentions are absolute,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and former peace negotiator. “This is not about rescuing hostages or ending Hamas. This is about erasing Gaza from the Palestinian political map, just as they’ve tried in the West Bank.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) echoed that view in a recent statement: “This level of destruction and killing is not collateral, it is deliberate. Israel’s actions in Gaza are consistent with a strategy of forced displacement and de facto annexation.”

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, made the agenda plain last week: “We are closer than ever to rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza. For 20 years, this was wishful thinking. It now seems like a real working plan.”

Trump’s Ultimatum Diplomacy And Washington’s Silent Endorsement:

According to reports from The Jerusalem Post and Israeli broadcaster N12, Netanyahu and Trump are working in tandem on an “all or nothing” ceasefire proposal that demands Hamas fully disarm and release all hostages. If rejected, Trump has formally authorised Israel to escalate military operations with U.S. backing, essentially offering diplomatic cover for what amounts to conquest.

“We think that we have to shift this negotiation to ‘all or nothing’, everybody comes home,” said Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, in leaked audio from a meeting with Israeli hostage families. He also confirmed that the U.S. would oversee a postwar international administration in Gaza, should Hamas capitulate, raising serious questions about the U.S.’s commitment to Palestinian sovereignty.

Critics say this plan subverts international law and allows Israel to act with total impunity. “This is not peace-making, it’s the formalisation of a colonial war project,” said Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya. “By dangling reconstruction in exchange for total Palestinian submission, Trump and Netanyahu are laying the groundwork for permanent occupation, not peace.”

A War Of Starvation And Ruin:

Even as talks collapse, the war continues to devastate Gaza, where over 100,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The enclave is in total collapse, with famine conditions rapidly worsening and much of its infrastructure in ruins.

“The worst-case scenario of famine is now playing out in Gaza,” said the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed monitoring agency. Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, went further: “Israel is starving Gaza. It’s genocide. It’s a war crime. I’ve said this repeatedly. Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine.”

Eyewitnesses describe children dying of malnutrition and dehydration in the open air as they flee bombardments in areas like Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. “We don’t have water. No food. No shelter. They are burning everything,” said Samah Abu al-Kheir, a displaced mother now living in a makeshift tent near Rafah. “We have nothing left to give our children but dust.”

The situation is worsened by Israeli restrictions on aid. Though Israel claims to have permitted limited airdrops and merchant-controlled food shipments, Jordanian officials report warehouses of aid gathering dust, blocked since March under a reimposed siege. “The humanitarian corridors are a lie,” said a UN aid worker stationed at the Kerem Shalom crossing. “They allow just enough in to create headlines, not to save lives.”

No Military Mandate, No Postwar Plan:

While Netanyahu speaks of “total victory,” Israel’s military is reportedly unprepared and internally divided over the full occupation plan. Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir’s last-minute cancellation of his Washington visit speaks volumes about the disconnect between military strategy and political ambition.

“There is no clear endgame,” said Amos Harel, defence analyst at Haaretz. “Even within the IDF, there are doubts about reoccupying Gaza, especially with no viable governance model. The military knows this could become a quagmire.”

Former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin warned last month that “Netanyahu’s policies are leading Israel into strategic disaster… This is not security. This is national suicide.”

Netanyahu has also refused to present any postwar civilian governance plan for Gaza, despite U.S. insistence on an “international authority.” Palestinian civil society has outright rejected such proposals. “This isn’t liberation, it’s recolonisation,” said Omar Shakir of HRW. “No occupation, foreign or Israeli, will ever bring peace to Gaza.”

A Manufactured Collapse Of Ceasefire Talks:

The current escalation follows the collapse of ceasefire talks last week, which multiple sources say were sabotaged by the Netanyahu government at the last moment.

A senior Israeli official told Haaretz that Hamas had “imposed some conditions, but they were not dealbreakers.” He added: “We were close, and the Israeli side chose to walk away.”

Veteran Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar called the move a calculated deception: “Netanyahu is not interested in freeing the hostages or ending the war. He’s buying time. The war protects him from political collapse, criminal prosecution, and the ICC.”

Meanwhile, the Israeli public grows increasingly restless. Massive protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have called for an immediate hostage deal and an end to the war. “This government has failed us,” said Yair Lotan, whose cousin is held hostage in Gaza. “It’s playing politics with our loved ones’ lives.”

From Occupation To Annexation:

Analysts warn that the language used by Netanyahu and his ministers signals not just occupation, but outright annexation, echoing decades-old settler fantasies of a “Greater Israel.”

“The goal is not short-term military control. The goal is to make Gaza uninhabitable for Palestinians and then claim it as Israeli land,” said Hagai El-Ad, former director of B’Tselem. “This is what apartheid looks like in its most extreme form.”

As far-right elements of Netanyahu’s coalition grow bolder, the prospects of a viable Palestinian state continue to evaporate. “Gaza is only step one,” said Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian politician and scholar. *“They want the West Bank. They want Jerusalem. This is not about defeating Hamas or the people, it’s about erasing Palestine.”

In Summary: A War Of Erasure And A Blueprint For Regional Domination:

The unfolding reoccupation of Gaza is not simply the continuation of a brutal war; it is a calculated strategy of colonial conquest aimed at entrenching permanent Israeli control through military domination, mass displacement, and total societal collapse. It is not just a war on Hamas, or even on Gaza, it is a war of erasure, targeting a nation, a people, and the very idea of Palestinian self-determination.

Despite the political theatre whipped up by Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, complete with hostage diplomacy, staged ceasefire offers, and talk of “postwar governance”, their intent is absolute and unambiguous: to annexe Gaza and the remaining occupied Palestinian territories, using force, starvation, and legal manipulation as the tools of conquest.

But the consequences of this war extend far beyond Gaza. By securing Israel’s dominance and “sovereignty” in the region under the guise of Western-backed self-defence, Israel is being positioned, explicitly and dangerously, as judge, jury, and executioner across the Middle East. With impunity guaranteed by Washington, Israel now claims the authority to strike any country it deems hostile, destabilise governments, engage in political assassinations, and assert control over strategic resources, shipping lanes, and trade routes across the region.

This isn’t just about defeating a resistance movement or redrawing a border; it’s about reshaping the political architecture of the Middle East around a militarised Israeli core, empowered to intervene, disrupt, and dominate under the cover of Western exceptionalism. As former UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk warned, “Israel, with its nuclear arsenal, technological superiority, and unmatched Western backing, is increasingly acting as an unaccountable regional enforcer, a role with no democratic mandate, no oversight, and no legal limits.”

The starvation of Gaza, the targeting of civilians, the flattening of cities, and the rejection of ceasefire deals are not signs of failure; they are features of a strategy that sees Palestinian erasure as both an end in itself and a stepping stone toward broader hegemony.

Despite mounting evidence of war crimes and genocide, international mechanisms have so far failed to respond with the urgency and severity this moment demands. The collapse of international law in the face of geopolitical alignment has emboldened Israel to pursue, in full view of the world, what amounts to a 21st-century blueprint for ethnic cleansing, genocide and regional domination.

The war in Gaza is not ending; it is metastasising. And unless the international community finds the political will to act, beyond words, beyond resolutions, Palestine will not be the last casualty of this silence.

The question now is whether the world will continue to treat Netanyahu’s military campaign as a war with an endpoint, or finally recognise it for what many Palestinians and rights groups have long argued: a colonial project in motion, under the pretext of counterterrorism, with annexation, not peace, as its endgame.

Tags: