Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take full military control of Gaza to secure its borders until it can hand governance of the enclave over to Arab authorities, vowing to “liberate” the Palestinians of Gaza from the ruling terrorist group Hamas.

“We intend to control all of Gaza. We don’t want to keep it. We want a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern [Gaza]. We don’t want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand Gaza over to Arab forces that will govern [the territory] properly,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News.

“We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas,” the Israeli premier added. “In order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance … The only way that you’re [going to] have a different future is to get rid of this neo-Nazi army. Hamas are monsters.”

Netanyahu’s comments came shortly before the Israeli security cabinet convened to discuss and likely approve the plan to expand the war.

Meanwhile, a flotilla carrying the families of Israeli hostages set sail from Ashkelon in southern Israel toward the Gaza maritime border on Thursday in a bid to pressure Israel’s government and the international community to act amid renewed fears for the 50 living and dead Israelis still held by Hamas. 

The 11-vessel convoy, called “Flotilla 50,” was flanked by military and police boats, and bore yellow flags and yellow lifebuoys – which were later lowered into the sea – symbolizing the hostages’ plight. 

The families said in a statement that the move was “a desperate cry” aimed at raising awareness in the international arena but also to call on the Israeli government not to take action that would endanger their loved ones. 

The maritime protest came ahead of a key security cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday evening, where ministers are expected to approve an escalation of military operations in Gaza to include a possible occupation of the Strip. The move has drawn domestic backlash, with thousands expected to protest across the country on Thursday night.

Michel Illouz, father of slain hostage Guy Illouz, blasted Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but expressed his fear that pushing for him to step down would make way for the government to put a “yes-man” in his place.  

“The state has deliberately sabotaged efforts from the start. This decision to conquer Gaza will send soldiers to their deaths, I’m certain,” he told the Ynet news site.

Haggai Angrest, father of kidnapped IDF soldier Matan Angrest, said he had “trust in the IDF chief of staff” Zamir but called to “put an end to this insanity.”

Israel’s military chief reportedly pushed back against Netanyahu’s plans to seize areas of Gaza it doesn’t already control during meetings earlier this week. The Israeli military says it already controls 75 percent of Gaza after nearly two years of war.

Many hostage families fear that a military expansion into the remaining areas will lead Hamas terrorists to execute the remaining hostages who are still alive.

Angrest said he would shout out to his abducted son from offshore “so he knows I’m here, so he can hold on.”

Representatives from the families broadcast the “Mayday” maritime emergency signal on a megaphone and read out the names of the 50 hostages. 

Two days earlier, Ilay David, the brother of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David, addressed the United Nations in New York after a video was released by Hamas showing the severely malnourished hostage digging his own grave.

David said he and his mother could not watch the video of his brother, but his father and sister did. “Now the images haunt them,” he said. 

“As my younger brother, a living skeleton, was forced to speak and dig his grave, the chubby and well-fed hand of a Hamas terrorist entered the frame,” David added. “Suddenly, Hamas confirmed what we have known for months — the terrorists have plenty of food. The only ones starving in Hamas’s tunnels are the hostages: my brother, Guy, and the [49] others.”

He added that the terrorists are behind a curtain eating plenty of food while starving his brother and the other hostages.

According to the UN’s own data, the vast majority of humanitarian aid entering Gaza is intercepted before reaching its intended civilian recipients, fueling concerns among Israeli officials and international observers about systemic aid diversion by Hamas and other armed groups in the enclave.

David blasted the UN for not discussing the humanitarian crisis of the hostages. “Not in the Security Council, and not in other UN forums. The very soul of humanity is being scarred by Hamas’s barbaric actions.”

“Your silence in the face of this monstrous cruelty is complicity,” he said. 

David later told The Algemeiner that he addressed the UN because he felt he had no other choice. 

“The world needs to see what we see – my little brother, Evyatar, starving in real time … his body wasting away. I couldn’t stay silent,” he said. “If it were your brother, your child, your best friend, you would want the world to listen. I spoke because I had no other choice.”

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists started the ongoing war on Oct. 7, 2023, with their invasion of southern Israel, where they massacred about 1,200 people, kidnapped over 250 hostages, and perpetrated widespread sexual violence.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages, most of whom have been freed as part of temporary ceasefires or Israeli rescue missions, and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, which borders the Jewish state to the south.

“I know that right now the eyes of the world are on Gaza. But if you care about humanitarian suffering, then you must also demand answers about the hostages. Are they receiving food? Water? Medical care? Where is the proof?” David said.