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Middle East conflict

Israeli PM approves plan to take control of Gaza City, defeat Hamas — adviser

Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the Israel Defense Forces’ plan to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization, Dmitri Gendelman, an adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office said

TEL AVIV, August 21. /TASS/. Benjamin Netanyahu has greenlighted military plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas, Dmitri Gendelman, an adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office, told TASS.

"Netanyahu has approved the Israel Defense Forces’ plan to seize Gaza City and defeat the Hamas terrorist organization," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu arrived in the Gaza Strip to approve the plan. In a video address, the Israeli prime minister said he had ordered "immediate talks for the release of all hostages and ending the war under conditions acceptable to Israel."

The issue of sending a delegation to Qatar or Egypt is being considered by the prime minister and his cabinet, Gendelman specified. Ynet reported, citing an Israeli source, that the Jewish state has not yet sent a delegation to Doha or Cairo after Netanyahu’s orders.

On Monday, Gendelman confirmed to TASS that Israel had received a response on the Gaza deal from Hamas via mediators. Later on August 18, Netanyahu visited the IDF troops in the enclave and said that the radical Palestinian movement was currently under "immense pressure." On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz authorized a plan for the capture of Gaza City, giving the operation the codename Gideon’s Chariots-2.

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Israel Gaza Strip

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