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Israeli Security Officials Object to ‘Gaza Occupation’ Plan

Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Israeli Security Officials Object to ‘Gaza Occupation’ Plan

Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced Palestinians carry food parcels as they raid trucks carrying humanitarian aid in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

During a heated 10-hour cabinet meeting on Thursday, several security chiefs in Israel rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said the objections were made by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and several senior security officials, including National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi, Mossad chief David Barnea and Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, a key negotiator in the hostage recovery efforts.

The officials argued for “safer and more suitable alternatives.” They also cautioned that the move would “greatly endanger” Israeli captives in Gaza and harm prospects for a deal with Hamas. When Netanyahu was not convinced, the government voted on a plan to gradually take control of Gaza City in the first place, while moving on later to other phases, and to provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside combat zones.

At the meeting, Hanegbi said: “I don’t understand how someone who has watched the videos of Evyatar and Rom, and all those released before them, can support the statement 'all or nothing.' That means giving up the chance to rescue at least 10 hostages immediately, because Hamas won’t respond to that demand.”

Hanegbi backed Zamir, who expressed his firm opposition to Netanyahu’s proposal. “I fully agree with the chief of staff that taking control of Gaza City jeopardizes the lives of the hostages, which is why I oppose the prime minister's proposal,” he said.

Despite the objection of senior security officials, Yedioth Ahronoth said the Security Cabinet voted early Friday to approve the plan for a full takeover of Gaza City.

Germany, the UK, Australia and other countries have rejected the decision of the Israeli security cabinet to launch an additional large-scale military operation in Gaza.

The newspaper said that the German government decision to not approve any exports to Israel of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, marks a significant shift for one of Israel’s staunchest allies in Europe.

Security sources told the Yedioth Ahronoth news site that the Israeli cabinet did not use the word “occupy,” and instead referred to “taking over,” due to legal reasons pertaining to Israel’s responsibility for civilian matters in Gaza.

Families of hostages held in Gaza called for a general strike on Saturday and urged the public to join their effort to save their loved ones and bring them back home.

The families said the government has given up on the hostages.

In a related development, the Palestinian presidency condemned Netanyahu's announcement that Israel intends to seize full control of Gaza.

Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh warned that Israel's policies, including the reoccupation of Gaza, attempts to annex the West Bank, and the Judaization of Jerusalem, will close all doors to achieving security and stability both regionally and globally.

He denounced Israel's rejection of international criticism and warnings from world powers regarding the escalation of war against the Palestinian people, describing such actions as an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and international law, embodied in the New York Declaration and successive recognitions of the State of Palestine.

“The Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine, just like Jerusalem and the West Bank. Without it, there will be no Palestinian state,” the spokesperson said.

He further called on the international community, led by the UN Security Council, to urgently compel the occupying state to cease its aggression, allow the entry of aid, and work diligently to enable the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Rudeineh also called on the US administration to assume its responsibilities by preventing Israel from expanding the war and halting colonist terrorism in the West Bank, in order to achieve security and stability in the region.

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Arab World

Iraq’s Ruling Coalition Discusses Arrests of Armed Faction Members

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
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Iraq’s Ruling Coalition Discusses Arrests of Armed Faction Members

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei receives Iraq’s top judge Faiq Zidan in Tehran on Tuesday (Mehr)

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Tuesday that regional countries would shape their own future and that the United States would have no place in the region.

Rezaei made the remarks in Tehran during talks with Faiq Zidan, head of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council.

He said Iran wanted a strong and independent Iraq and called for a resolution to the status of Iranian opposition groups based along the two countries’ border, an apparent reference to Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

His comments came days after Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf visited Baghdad, as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi’s government faces growing pressure to press ahead with its plan to bring all weapons under state control.

During Ghalibaf’s visit, Iraqi National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi said the government was moving forward with the plan.

He said the constitution did not allow armed groups to threaten the security of other countries and reaffirmed Baghdad’s commitment to its security agreement with Tehran.

The circumstances surrounding the visit suggested that armed factions were a central focus of the talks, even if the issue did not formally appear on every publicly announced agenda.

Iraqi reports said Ghalibaf conveyed Tehran’s position on government measures targeting the factions’ weapons as Baghdad’s deadline for completing the process approached.

Separately, leaders of the Coordination Framework discussed the arrests of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) members and commanders at a meeting in Baghdad attended by Mohsen Qomi, a representative of Iran’s supreme leader.

Local media said the leaders objected to how the arrests were carried out. They argued that those wanted by the authorities could have been summoned through formal judicial procedures instead of military force.

Underscoring the sensitivity of the issue, PMF later said what it called a “misunderstanding” over the arrests of several members had been resolved. It said they had been handed over to PMF security services to pursue their cases in court.

The developments come as al-Zaidi’s government seeks to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, bringing it into direct confrontation with armed factions that wield extensive political and security influence.

The weapons issue poses a sensitive test for al-Zaidi, who is also under US pressure to dismantle armed groups operating outside state control.

Baghdad ‘appreciates Tehran’s support’

In Tehran, Rezaei and Zidan focused their talks on security and judicial ties.

Zidan said Iraq appreciated Iran’s support and stressed the need for regional cooperation and security along the shared border.

He arrived in Tehran on Tuesday at the head of a senior judicial delegation following an official invitation. The delegation included the heads of the Judicial Supervision Commission and the Public Prosecution Service, as well as the director-general of the Judicial Protection Department.

Zidan was received by the Iranian judiciary’s deputy chief for international affairs and Nasser Seraj, secretary of the judiciary’s Human Rights Council.

During the visit, Zidan also met Iranian judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei to discuss closer judicial and legal cooperation.

Ejei said more than 131 Iranian convicts had been transferred from Iraqi prisons over the past year. He called for better prisoner-transfer and exchange mechanisms and measures to ease the difficulties facing their families.

He also said Iranian and Iraqi security were interconnected and urged closer coordination against activities threatening their shared border.

Zidan praised relations between the two countries and said the Iraqi government and people stood with Iran against what he described as “US and Israeli aggression.” He also recalled Iran’s support for Iraq during its war against ISIS.

Zidan also discussed several issues of common interest with Ghalibaf, according to Iraq’s state news agency.

Arab World

Israel Restricts Movement in Three Christian Towns in Southern Lebanon

Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
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Israel Restricts Movement in Three Christian Towns in Southern Lebanon

Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)
Civilians from Christian villages in southern Lebanon travel south along the coastal road in a convoy, as an Israeli flag is seen at the entrance to Naqoura in July 2026. (File photo/AFP)

The Israeli military has restricted movement in and out of three beseigned Christian towns in southern Lebanon, forcing residents to travel in prearranged convoys along a single route through Naqoura.

Residents must register their vehicles and submit travelers’ details before entering or leaving Rmeish, Debel and Ain Ebel in the Bint Jbeil district.

People remain in the three towns despite being encircled by Israeli forces occupying every neighboring community. Relief and medical supplies arrive from elsewhere in Lebanon in convoys escorted by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Local sources in Rmeish told Asharq Al-Awsat that no vehicle may travel alone. At least one convoy of several cars or buses leaves one of the three towns each day.

The Lebanese army and UNIFIL organize the convoys, which must take the coastal road south of Tyre to Naqoura before heading to the Christian towns in Bint Jbeil.

The army escorts them as far as Qlayleh, about 15 km from the Israeli border. UNIFIL vehicles then accompany them to their villages.

Travelers must register their vehicles and provide UNIFIL with their personal details in advance. Their identities are checked and their vehicles searched as part of coordination with Israeli forces to allow them to pass, the sources said.

The restrictions have prompted the Vatican, through its ambassador to Lebanon, to ask the United States to intervene to prevent Israel from limiting the movement of residents of the Christian villages, Asharq Al-Awsat learned.

Marjayoun villages spared restrictions

The measures apply only to Christian villages in Bint Jbeil district and do not extend to those in Marjayoun district.

Residents and visitors can travel freely between Qlayaa, Jdeidet Marjayoun, Burj al-Mulouk and Deir Mimas and out of the towns, local sources in Qlayaa told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They use a route through the Western Bekaa in eastern Lebanon toward Hasbaya and then take the Ibl al-Saqi-Dibbin-Marjayoun road.

Residents continue to visit the towns as usual, but the communities are barred from hosting people displaced from nearby villages and towns. Journalists visiting the area are also prohibited from photographing the nearby town of Khiam, the sources said.

Israeli forces stationed in Kfar Kila and Tall al-Nahhas erected an earth mound on Tuesday near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Kfar Kila junction, toward Tall al-Nahhas. It lies about 150 meters from inhabited homes in Burj al-Mulouk.

The forces built another earth mound near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Houra junction.

More than 5,000 properties destroyed in Mais al-Jabal

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued bulldozing towns inside the “yellow line” and systematically destroying the homes still standing there.

In recent days, trucks carrying crates filled with explosives have traveled alongside Israeli patrols, a senior security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The crates are unloaded, and the explosives are placed around homes in occupied towns after they are looted, ahead of their demolition, the source said.

The same method was used in the border town of Mais al-Jabal, the largest town in Marjayoun district, where Israeli forces have continued destroying homes.

“Only dozens of housing units remain in Mais al-Jabal after more than 5,000 homes and commercial properties were destroyed,” the source said.

The latest demolition targeted a school complex consisting of prefabricated buildings that the Iraqi government had helped provide. The complex stood on the town’s outskirts, near Doubiyeh Castle and the road linking the area to Shaqra. Nearby homes were also destroyed.

The Israeli military also brought in specialized equipment to pulverize concrete into material resembling soil, making it easier for groups brought in for that purpose to remove reinforcing steel from destroyed buildings and transport it into Israel, the source said.

Before dawn on Tuesday, an Israeli force advanced toward Tallat al-Sawwan in Mayfadoun, an area inside the yellow line, and took up positions in a house.

Israeli military vehicles also moved from Hadatha into Haris in Bint Jbeil district and fired machine guns toward the town’s outskirts.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces had stepped up attacks on villages in the western sector of Tyre district.

Aircraft carried out two strikes on Mansouri and another on Wadi Hassan in Tayr Harfa, as large-scale demolitions took place in Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, the agency said.

Israeli artillery also shelled Ainata and Beit Lif in Bint Jbeil district. Warplanes struck Mansouri and Wadi Hassan on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, southeast of Tyre.

Arab World

Gaza Parents Urged to Stop Kids Flying Kites After Israel Warning to Hamas

Palestinians make a kite at a tent camp sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, August 25, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians make a kite at a tent camp sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, August 25, 2026. (Reuters)
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Gaza Parents Urged to Stop Kids Flying Kites After Israel Warning to Hamas

Palestinians make a kite at a tent camp sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, August 25, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians make a kite at a tent camp sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, August 25, 2026. (Reuters)

Gaza parents have been warned to stop their children flying kites in the war-ravaged enclave, after Israel threatened a forceful response if the Hamas group revives a tactic of launching incendiary kites over the border.

The popular committees, comprising representatives of local non-government organizations and charities that run Gaza displacement camps and shelters, issued the warning in a statement late on Monday.

The announcement was coordinated with Hamas authorities, a source in the movement ‌said.

"We are ‌working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible ‌to ⁠stop this practice, ⁠not to restrict the childhood of our children, who have already been deprived of the most basic rights to play and live in safety, but to protect their innocent lives," the statement said.

In 2018, Gazans sent incendiary balloons and kites over the border, causing fires across hundreds of acres of open fields and farmlands, in what they said was in protest at the ⁠Israeli blockade of the Hamas-controlled enclave.

KITES SCARE ISRAELI VILLAGERS

In ‌the past month, several kites that ‌were not reported to be carrying incendiary materials were spotted drifting from Gaza into Israel, ‌alarming Israelis who live in the nearby villages which came under ‌attack by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 assault that sparked the Gaza war.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that unless that stopped immediately, "those responsible" for launching kites, balloons or drones toward Israel would be targets of assassination and ‌that areas from which they are sent will be ordered to evacuate.

Umm Mohammed, a mother from Gaza ⁠City who spoke ⁠with Reuters over a chat app, said she was worried her son could be hurt.

"Every summer, my kid, Ahmed, 10, and the kids in the street fly those kites to entertain themselves, but I will not allow him to, not anymore," she said.

A senior Israeli defense official said that Hamas was trying to provoke Israel by encouraging Gazans to fly kites across the border.

A Hamas official told Reuters the group has complained to ceasefire mediators that "Israel was making fake pretexts to continue the war on Gaza."

Israel complained to US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which oversees the implementation of the 2025 Gaza ceasefire deal, about the kites, according to a second Israeli official.