Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israel’s intention to occupy the full Gaza Strip Thursday, despite opposition from the Israeli military and wide swaths of Israelis who say the plan will sound a death knell for the hostages still held there.

Netanyahu offered his first public confirmation of his intention in an interview Thursday on Fox News ahead of a security cabinet meeting to discuss the occupation plan.

Asked whether Israel would take over Gaza, Netayahu answered, “We intend to.”

But he said he did not want to permanently control the territory, telling interviewer Bill Hemmer, “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.”

After defeating Hamas fully, Netanyahu said,

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