Even Republicans have questions about Israel's plan to occupy Gaza City
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli Cabinet members attend a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Arlington, Va., on July 9. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Some congressional Republicans are raising questions about Israel's planned occupation of Gaza City as pro-Israel Democrats push back on the operation with unusual ferocity.
Why it matters: Israel's coalition of political allies in the U.S. has become scrambled in recent weeks amid a growing humanitarian crisis is Gaza — and a coinciding drop in U.S. public opinion toward Israel.
- Lawmakers sympathetic to Israel are warning that the plan could be a logistical nightmare and warning the country to tread carefully and avoid further alienating the international community.
- It's not just Democrats questioning the plan. "I'd like to know who is actually going to run it," Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee that oversees the Middle East, told Axios.
- Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), another member of the panel, told Axios: "Occupation for security also comes with the responsibility of providing humanitarian assistance and creating an economic future."
State of play: The Israeli Security Cabinet on Thursday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to have the IDF "take control" of Gaza City in an effort to defeat Hamas.
- In addition to occupying Gaza City, which is expected to take months and displace around 1 million Palestinian civilians, the IDF will also be charged with distributing humanitarian aid, Axios' Barak Ravid reported.
- The IDF's chief of staff pushed back during the Cabinet meeting, arguing the plan could endanger Israeli hostages in Gaza and lead to protracted Israeli military governance.
- President Trump, who has split with Netanyahu on allegations of famine in Gaza, is not planning to intervene to oppose the operation.
Driving the news: Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the roughly 100-member New Democrat Coalition and a vocal pro-Israel centrist, called the plan "tactically questionable and strategically self-defeating."
- "If implemented, the decision is more likely to play into Hamas's original objectives in starting this war and further unite much of the world against Israel than it is to bring home the last surviving hostages and advance the security needs of the nation," Schneider said in a statement.
- Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), one of Democrats' staunchest Israel backers, said in a statement that Israel is the "ultimate arbiter of its own security" but that "the war in Gaza is in danger of becoming a quagmire."
- Drawing comparisons to the protracted American conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Torres urged Israel to maintain a narrow focus on securing the release of the remaining hostages.
Yes, but: Israel is still not without its unflinching Republican supporters in Congress.
- "In the absence of a ceasefire, which Hamas repeatedly rejects, Israel is left with no choice," Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), the chair of the Foreign Affairs Middle East Subcommittee, told Axios.
- "If everyone agrees Hamas cannot remain in power and the hostages must be released, how do you expect to get there? Who is going to force that? The U.K.? France?"
- Said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.): "There will be no peace with Hamas. Until Hamas is rooted out and the hostages returned, I understand the need to occupy Gaza. Hamas started this war and did this to themselves."
