Hamas Says Netanyahu's Remarks on Full Gaza Control Are 'a Coup'

Alsharq Tribune- Rahma Otaify 

Hamas said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remark that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza constituted "a coup.”

Netanyahu's plans to expand Israel's Gaza offensive show his aim is to sacrifice Israel's own hostages to serve his personal interests, Hamas added in its statement.

Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

"We intend to," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer when asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal territory. "We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter.We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body."

He said that Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. Netanyahu made the comments to Fox News shortly before a meeting he was due to have on Thursday with a small group of senior ministers to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza.