Trump gives Israel tacit green light on Gaza takeover

President Trump is giving a tacit green light for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take over the Gaza Strip, framing the move as an Israeli-owned decision amid a global outcry and growing calls in the U.S. to rein in Netanyahu. 

Trump has committed to taking the lead on humanitarian-aid distribution in the strip amid famine-like conditions for a population enduring a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. 

But he’s refrained from criticizing Israel’s plans to escalate the war by expanding its military control of the Gaza Strip, even as international allies speak out against the operation. 

“I know that we are there now trying to get people fed… As far as the rest of it, I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel,” Trump said earlier this week when asked about Netanyahu’s plan.

Netanyahu’s decision, approved in a security cabinet vote overnight between Thursday and Friday, is worsening deep divisions in Israeli society, pitting the military against the government, and isolating Israel from European and Arab and Gulf partners.

Germany on Friday announced it would halt military exports to Israel that can be used in the Gaza Strip. This follows France, Canada and the United Kingdom expressing their intent to recognize an independent Palestinian state, a move vehemently opposed by Israel, which argues it rewards Hamas for launching its Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.

Underscoring British concern, the U.K. initiated an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting for Saturday to discuss Israel’s plan to take over Gaza.

“There's a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives,” Vice President Vance said Friday, while meeting with British Foreign Minister David Lammy, when asked about whether the U.S. was given a heads up on Netanyahu’s plan.

Netanyahu is pushing back against international blowback. On Friday, the Israeli leader struck back at Germany as “rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.” 

“We are not going to occupy Gaza - we are going to free Gaza from Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a statement Friday on X.

“Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.”

A survey of the Israeli public in May found declining optimism over the course of the war, with about half of Jewish and Arab residents believing that the military operation at that time would not bring about returning the hostages – about 20 remain alive in Hamas captivity – and ending Hamas’s rule of the Gaza Strip. 

The Hostages Families Forum, which represents many families of captives in Gaza, in a statement said the “decision to pursue occupation of the Gaza Strip means abandoning the hostages, while completely ignoring the repeated warnings from military leadership and the clear will of the majority of the Israeli public.”

Israel’s military chief, Eyal Zamir, reportedly warned Netanyahu against taking over Gaza, cautioning it would trap the Israeli military and could lead to harm to the hostages, in a tense meeting that took place on Tuesday.

But in line with the security cabinet’s decision, Zamir said Friday the army would carry out the plan “in the best possible way.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called the cabinet’s decision a “total disaster that will lead to many more disasters.” 

While there’s overwhelming bipartisan support for Israel in Washington, Netanyahu’s handling of the war, and the immense humanitarian toll wrought on Palestinians, has soured U.S. public opinion toward Israel, increased the number of Democratic opponents, and even triggered some isolated GOP pushback.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a firebrand MAGA lawmaker, has taken the rare step for a Republican of calling Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” against the Palestinian people. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a frequent thorn in Trump’s side, is an anti-interventionist and doesn’t want U.S. dollars going to militaries abroad, including Israel’s. 

On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) secured 24 votes late last month for his resolution to block arms sales to Israel, six more than a previous high of 18 senators supporting the move. 

Mega-popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, has accused Israel of “genocide.” Rogan previously hosted on his show a Holocaust revisionist and proponent of antisemitic conspiracy theories on his show. 

Sarah Perkins, Aronson Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Johns Hopkins SAIS, said that antisemitism is a factor among some groups speaking out against Israel. But she said other factors were driving the sentiment too: the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, along with anti-interventionist leanings and fiscal conservatism in the Republican party.

“I think that there are a couple of different currents that it's important to note, not everyone's on the same page when it comes to all of this,” she said.

Still, the Republican party, by and large, is behind Trump and Israel. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) earlier this week became the highest-ranking U.S. official to travel to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The move echoed a trip by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who declared that the U.S. did not view Israeli settlements as de facto illegal.

America’s position toward Israel runs directly counter to the Arab world – and a growing number of European countries – who oppose Israel’s entrenchment in the West Bank, along with its plan to take over the Gaza Strip, as steps toward annexation and blocking any creation of a Palestinian state or Palestinian self-rule.

“To say that the Arabs are worried and stressed is an enormous understatement. They have been worried and stressed since this whole situation started,” said Mirette Mabrouk, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

Saudi Arabia, which Trump hoped to get to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, condemned Netanyahu’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip. 

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns in the strongest possible terms the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to occupy the Gaza Strip and categorically condemns their persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people,” Riyadh said in a statement on Friday.

Mediators from Egypt and Qatar, who were working with the U.S. to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, are reportedly preparing a new framework that will release the hostages – dead and alive – in one round in return for the end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, according to the Associated Press.

Will Todman, chief of staff of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned of humanitarian, diplomatic and strategic risks to Israel’s plan.

“The Israeli government is likely to be bogged down in a costly military occupation of Gaza with no plan, exit strategy. They say they want Arab states to take over management of Gaza for the day after, but there's no clear sign that that's a credible pathway and that any Arab states are prepared to do that,” he said in an analysis posted to X.

“Unless the United States changes its stance, I think ultimately, Israel will continue with this plan.”