Netanyahu says he wants Israel to take control of all of Gaza

Netanyahu made his comments to Fox News before the outcome of a meeting he was due to have on Thursday with a small group of senior ministers to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File picture: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war in the Palestinian enclave.

"We intend to," Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal territory. "We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body."