Israel's security cabinet has approved plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli military to occupy Gaza City, in an expansion of military operations that comes amid international condemnation of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Bezalel Smotrich, the hard-line finance minister, said that Israel needed to move more decisively and quickly to defeat Hamas.

The Israeli Security Cabinet on Thursday proceeded with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to fully occupy Gaza City. The decision marks a significant escalation in Israel’s war with Hamas and could give way to the Israeli military’s possible occupation of the entire Gaza Strip,