Israel Approves Plan to Assume Control of Gaza After Trump’s Middle East Trip

Hamas has “a window of opportunity” to agree to a hostage deal with Israel before the end of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week, according to a top Israeli defense official. If no deal is reached, Israel will launch an aggressive campaign inside Gaza aimed at the elimination of Hamas, according to The Times of Israel.  

Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved a plan for the Israel Defense Forces to assume full control of the Gaza strip, move civilians to Southern Gaza, and oversee humanitarian aid distribution in the region to ensure Hamas is not stealing the aid.  

“If there is no hostage deal, ‘Operation Gideon Chariots’ will begin with great intensity and will not stop until all its goals are achieved,” the defense official said.  

Previously, IDF forces have withdrawn from areas conquered, but under the new operation, the military “remain in every area that is conquered to prevent the return of terror,” according to the official.  

“Finally, Israel is committed to taking from Hamas the one thing it values most—territory,” Daniel Flesch, a senior policy analyst for Middle East and North Africa at The Heritage Foundation told The Daily Signal.  

“This strategy to hold captured territory and to distribute humanitarian aid through alternate channels will sever Hamas control of Gaza’s land and people, thereby diminishing its capacity to draw on the population for resources and manpower,” Flesch added. “It is this pressure that may convince Hamas to release hostages to stave off defeat. Still, with the support of a friendly American administration, Operation Gideon Chariots, if executed, could spell the beginning of the end of this war.” 

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a former international spokesman for the IDF, told The Daily Signal last week that he believed Israel would have to “rule Gaza” for a time following Hamas’ defeat.  

“I think in [an] interim period, Israel will apply a military occupation of it and rule Gaza to make sure that Hamas is indeed defeated, that there [are] no pockets of resistance and terrorism and guerrilla [warfare], etc.,” Conricus said.  

During Trump’s trip to the Middle East May 13 to 16, the president will meet with leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.  

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel broke down in March after a two month pause in the fighting and the release of 33 hostages. Further negotiations between Hamas and Israel, led by Egypt, Qatar, and the U.S., have failed to result in a deal.  

Sources in Egypt have claimed that Israel withdrew from a hostage and ceasefire deal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denies the claim.  

The vote from Israel’s security cabinet approving ‘Operation Gideon Chariots’ came the same day Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen fired a ballistic missile at Israel that struck near the international airport in Tel Aviv.  

“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Netanyahu wrote on X Sunday. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport and, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.” 

Israel struck multiple targets in Yemen Monday in response to the missile strike near the airport.

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