Israel claimed it will take over Gaza City, escalating its 22-month war with Hamas despite increased domestic and international outrage, NBC News reports.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office released a statement early Friday (August 8) morning announcing that the Israeli military "will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones," noting that the Security Cabinet had approved his "proposal for defeating Hamas" in a post on X.

"A decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the Security Cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages," he continued in a followup post .

The Gaza City

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