TEL AVIV, Israel — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that, to destroy the Hamas militant group, Israel intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip and eventually transfer its administration to friendly Arab forces, as the Security Cabinet discussed a widening of its 22-month offensive.

Asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel would "take control of all of Gaza," Netanyahu replied: "We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza." The Security Cabinet still would need to approve such a decision.

"We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter," he said. "We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life."

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