If you read the Western press this morning, you may come to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to take military control over Gaza is new. But dropping 2000lb bombs does not rescue captives and wiping out whole neighbourhoods does not come without plans to build something in their place.

On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved the occupation of Gaza City, formalising what was always the endgame of this genocide. The plan follows a deliberate sequence: First destroy, then starve, occupy, demand demilitarisation, and finally carry out full ethnic cleansing once Palestinians have no political power and capacity to resist. This is how the dream of “Greater Israel” is achieved.

But why formalise this occupation now, after 22 months of systematic slaughter? Be

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