JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Cabinet voted Monday to seize the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time in a move that could see Israel reestablish control over a territory it vacated two decades ago.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt.
Israeli officials did not clarify Monday what a reoccupation of Gaza would entail, but the announcement raises the potential for the reestablishment of Israeli settlements inside the territory. Israel’s settler movement has been emboldened under its current ultranationalist government.
The Israeli military said Monday a "majority" of Gaza's population will be displaced during a new operation in the Gaza Strip. Israel approved plans Monday to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition. (AP Video / March 5, 2025)
Details were not formally announced, and Israeli leaders have said the expansion of operations will not begin until after President Donald Trump’s visit. The plan may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
Seizing Gaza would further dim hopes for Palestinian statehood, embed Israel inside a population deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory, especially as it considers how to implement President Donald and resettle Palestinians elsewhere.
Palestinians see Gaza as an integral part of their future state, even if the rulers have changed over decades. Palestinian statehood on land that would include the territory has broad international support.
Here’s a look at the troubled modern history of the Gaza Strip:
1967 — 1993: Israel seizes control of Gaza from Egypt
Israel seized control of Gaza from Egypt during the 1967 Mideast war, when it also captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem — areas that remain under Israeli control. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous areas of the occupied West Bank, seeks all three areas for a hoped-for future Palestinian state.
Israel built more than 20 Jewish settlements in Gaza during this period. It also signed a — a pact negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi this 40-year-old treaty when he declined to permit Palestinian refugees from Gaza into Egypt, saying the potential entrance of militants into Egypt would threaten longstanding peace between Israel and Egypt.
The first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in Gaza in December 1987, kicking off more than five years of sustained protests and bloody violence. It was also during this time that the Islamic militant group Hamas was established in Gaza.
1993 — 2005: The Palestinian Authority takes charge
For a time, promising peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders made the future of Gaza look somewhat hopeful.
Following , a set of agreements between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat that laid the groundwork for a two-state solution, control of Gaza was handed to the fledgling Palestinian Authority.
But the optimism was short lived. A series of Palestinian suicide attacks by Hamas militants, the 1995 assassination of Rabin by a Jewish ultranationalist opposed to his peacemaking, and the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister the following year all hindered U.S.-led peace efforts. Another peace push collapsed in late 2000 with the eruption of the second Palestinian uprising.
As the uprising fizzled in 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon led a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, uprooting all of Israel’s troops and roughly 9,000 settlers in a move that bitterly divided Israel.
2005 — 2023: Hamas seizes power
Just months after Israel’s withdrawal, Hamas won parliamentary elections over Fatah, the long-dominant Palestinian political party. In 2007 after months of infighting, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.
Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on the territory, monitoring the flow of goods and people in and out. For nearly two decades, the closure has crippled the local economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing, and emboldened militancy in Gaza, which is one of the most densely populated places on the planet.
Through previous wars and countless smaller battles with Israel that , Hamas grew more powerful. In each subsequent conflict, Hamas had more rockets that traveled farther and the group displayed a growing array of weapons. Its top leaders survived and ceasefires were secured. It built a government, including a police force, ministries and border terminals equipped with metal detectors and passport control.
2023 Hamas attack sparks the Israel-Hamas war
The Oct. 7, 2023, a Hamas attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 people taken hostage. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.
Since in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swaths of territory and of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel , including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.
Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and killed more than 52,000 people there, many of them women and children, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
Unlike past wars, in this conflict Israel has acknowledged killing top Hamas leaders like and , the believed masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack, and , the head of Hamas’ political bureau.
Still, some of the group’s militants survived and were following the ceasefire. They were visible policing the streets and organizing sometimes-chaotic handovers of hostages.
