Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to “take control” of Gaza City, his office said in a statement Friday.

Under the plan to “defeat” Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”, the statement said.

“The security cabinet—by majority vote—adopted five principles for concluding the war: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages—living and dead; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.