It’s 3am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re shutting this live blog now. You can read our latest full report with the key developments here: Fears for Palestinians and hostages as Netanyahu plans full Gaza occupation. Thanks for reading.
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In Australia, a prominent Jewish community leader has said Israel has no choice but to take control of Gaza if it wants to achieve its goal of defeating Hamas and freeing the militant group’s hostages.
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also said it appeared inevitable Australia’s government would recognise a Palestinian state in the near future, Australian Associated Press is reporting.
Ryvchin said Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments that Israel intends to take over the entire Gaza Strip were welcome because it would mean the defeat of Hamas.
“I think that the worst thing that could happen is any form of civilian return to Gaza,” Ryvchin told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.
When you have a situation where Hamas refuses to lay down its arms, refuses to release the hostages, refuses the ceasefire that’s been on the table since the end of May, it leaves no choice but to complete the job militarily.
And that’s clearly what the prime minister is planning to do.
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An Israeli kibbutz that was ravaged during Hamas’s October 2023 attacks has suspended a cornerstone-laying event in protest against the Israeli security cabinet meeting over Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take full control of Gaza.
The chairman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gazan border, urged the government to return the hostages as part of an agreement “even if the price is high”, and said the kibbutz understood the dangers of Hamas better than cabinet members, the Times of Israel is reporting.
Kibbutz Nir Oz was largely destroyed when Hamas militants entered all but six of more than 200 homes in the small community and murdered or kidnapped one of every four residents – 117 out of about 400 people, the report says.
Of those abducted, nine are still being held in Gaza, with only five of them believed to still be alive.
The ceremony on Thursday for a new neighbourhood in the kibbutz was planned in the presence of released hostages and the families of those still held in captivity. The Times report continues:
But in the middle of the proceedings, kibbutz chairman Tzviki Tessler announced that “the cabinet is gathering now to discuss the occupation of Gaza. We can’t continue as normal at this time, so we will stop the ceremony as we must. I speak on behalf of Nir Oz and of the hostages and call on the leadership and the cabinet … don’t approve any action that can endanger the lives of the hostages.”
He said that without the return of the hostages “there will be neither victory nor rehabilitation”.
Irit Pauker – whose father Gideon Pauker was shot and wounded in his Nir Oz home on 7 October and bled to death there next to his wife, Orna, who was not hurt – said the hostage families had been fighting for a year and 10 months and no longer knew against whom: Hamas or the state of Israel.
The Times quoted her as saying:
Now is maybe the last opportunity to save them … stand by us.
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A Hamas official has said the militant group will treat any force formed to govern Gaza per Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion as an “occupying” force linked the Israel, Reuters has quoted the official as telling the Al Jazeera Mubasher television network.
A Jordanian official, meanwhile, has said Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on” after the Israeli prime minister said he wanted to hand over Gaza to Arab forces that would govern the territory.
In the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments, the Jordanian official told Reuters:
Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions.
Netanyahu did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.
The Israeli leader made the comments to Fox News shortly before 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
The Jordanian official said:
Arabs will not be agreeing to Netanyahu’s policies nor clean his mess.
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More now on almost two dozen relatives of hostages who set sail from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers calling for the hostages’ release.
Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, said from a boat on Thursday that Benjamin Netanyahu was prolonging the war to satisfy extremists in his governing coalition, the Associated Press reports.
The Israeli prime minister’s far-right allies want to escalate the war, relocate most of Gaza’s population to other countries and reestablish Jewish settlements that were dismantled in 2005.
Cohen said:
Netanyahu is working only for himself.
As our latest full report from Lorenzo Tondo details, the hostages’ family members boarded boats that departed from the coastal city of Ashkelon, near the border with Gaza, carrying yellow flags and posters bearing images of the hostages as they shouted their names.
“This is the moment for courageous leadership,” the families said, appealing directly to Netanyahu as well as the lead hostage negotiator, Ron Dermer, and the chief of the Israel Defense Forces.
Continued obstruction, delay and failure to bring our loved ones home will be a tragedy for generations. The responsibility is yours. Do not sacrifice our loved ones on the altar of an endless war.
This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage
Updated
A summary of today’s developments
Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad. “We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News Channel 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.”
Netanyahu made the comments shortly before 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. Two government sources told Reuters any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.
Israeli media has reported part of the security cabinet meeting. The IDF’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, has warned Benjamin Netanyahu about the hostages still in Gaza, according to broadcaster Channel 12. “The lives of the hostages will be in danger if we embark on a plan to occupy Gaza,” the broadcaster reports him as saying. “There is no way to guarantee that we will not be harmed by them. Our forces are worn out, the military equipment needs maintenance, and there are humanitarian and sanitary problems.”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has responded to accusations earlier from the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who called for the closure of GHF and described its food distribution sites in Gaza as having become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”. GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation operating in Gaza, said in a statement: “MSF’s accusations are both false and disgraceful – amplifying a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the Hamas-linked Gaza health ministry.”
Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser hospital, which received the bodies, AP reported.
A footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association (PFA). Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.
There is an upward trend in the number of trucks entering Gaza but it is still below what was agreed between the EU and Israel under a deal last month on improving humanitarian access, the bloc’s foreign policy and humanitarian arms said in a document seen by Reuters on Thursday. The UN and other partners report that 463 trucks were off-loaded at crossing points to Gaza between 29 July and 4 August, the document said.
Israeli authorities returned the body of a Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli settler last week, after female Bedouin relatives launched a hunger strike to protest against the authority’s decision to hold his body in custody, reports the Associated Press. The hunger strike was a rare public call from Bedouin women who traditionally mourn in private. Witnesses said Awdah al-Hathaleen was shot and killed by a radical Israeli settler during a confrontation caught on video last month.
Zadie Smith, Michael Rosen, Irvine Welsh and Jeanette Winterson are among more than 200 writers who have signed a letter calling for an “immediate and complete” boycott of Israel until the people of Gaza are given adequate food, water and aid. Hanif Kureishi, Brian Eno, Elif Shafak, George Monbiot, Benjamin Myers, Geoff Dyer and Sarah Hall also signed the letter, which advocates the cessation of all “trade, exchange and business” with Israel.
Human Rights Watch have called on governments worldwide to suspend their arms transfers to Israel after deadly airstrikes on two Palestinian schools last year, reports the Associated Press. Human Rights Watch said an investigation did not find any evidence of a military target at either school.
Gaza has seen its highest monthly figure of acute malnutrition in children, with hunger-related deaths rising in the territory, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. He added that malnutrition is widespread in the territory, reports Reuters.
Demonstrations have been planned across Israel on Thursday evening to protest against the expected security cabinet decision, reports the Associated Press. On Thursday morning, almost two dozen relatives of hostages being held in Gaza set sail from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers on boats to their relatives in Gaza.
Police on Thursday said they had charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under anti-terrorism laws. Two women and a man were charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 after their arrest at a protest in central London on 5 July, the capital’s Metropolitan police force said.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Eyal Zamir vowed on Thursday to continue expressing the military’s position “without fear” ahead of the expected security cabinet meeting. “We will continue to express our position without fear, in a pragmatic, independent, and professional manner,” Zamir said according to a military statement reported by Agence France-Presse.
Indonesia will convert a medical facility on its currently uninhabited island of Galang to treat about 2,000 injured residents of Gaza, who will return home after recovery, a presidential spokesperson said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Muslim-majority Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians (the Gaza health ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants).
US president Donald Trump said it was important that Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords, saying it will ensure peace in the region. “Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday.
The US has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel’s military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon, according to copy of a Lebanese cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters.
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The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has responded to accusations earlier from the medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who called for the closure of GHF and described its food distribution sites in Gaza as having become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”.
GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation operating in Gaza, said in a statement: “MSF’s accusations are both false and disgraceful – amplifying a disinformation campaign orchestrated by the Hamas-linked Gaza health ministry.
“They know better. By repeating these lies, they’re not aiding civilians, they’re aiding Hamas. Despite that, we’re proud to continue lending them a hand, just as we’ve done on multiple occasions to help transport and safeguard their medical supplies and medicines from the elements.”
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Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera Mubasher that it would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an “occupying” force linked to Israel.
A footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association (PFA).
Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.
‘‘During his long career, al-Obeid, 41, scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football,” it said.
Born in Gaza on 24 March 1984, Obeid began his footballing career with Khadamat al-Shati, later playing for Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, and Gaza Sport. A fixture in the Palestinian national side after his debut in 2007, Obeid gained 24 caps and scored twice, the PFA said, most memorably with a scissor-kick against Yemen during the 2010 West Asian Football Federation championship.
His talent on the pitch earned him the nickname of “the Palestinian Pelé” – a nod to the legendary Brazilian widely hailed as one of the greatest players of all time.
His death adds to a growing toll of athletes lost in Gaza since the war began, with at least 662 sportspeople and their relatives reported to have been killed.
A Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on” after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel wanted to hand over Gaza to Arab forces that would govern it.
“Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions,” the source said.
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Israeli media has reported part of the security cabinet meeting
The IDF’s chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, has warned Benjamin Netanyahu about the hostages still in Gaza, according to broadcaster Channel 12.
“The lives of the hostages will be in danger if we embark on a plan to occupy Gaza,” the broadcaster reports him as saying.
“There is no way to guarantee that we will not be harmed by them. Our forces are worn out, the military equipment needs maintenance, and there are humanitarian and sanitary problems.”
Updated
Britain continues to run near daily surveillance flights over Gaza with the help of a US contractor at a time of growing questions about how the intelligence obtained is used and shared with the Israeli military, writes Dan Sabbagh and Geneva Abdul.
Specialist flight trackers estimate that RAF Shadow aircraft have run more than 600 flights over the Palestinian territory from the Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus in an attempt to locate the remaining hostages held by Hamas since December 2023.
Spy flights were started under the Conservatives but have continued under Labour with few details shared publicly, at a rate of about two a day at first but dropping to one a day more recently, specialist trackers said.
Surveillance was transferred to a US contractor, Sierra Nevada Corporation, in late July to reduce costs and RAF sources indicated that it continues most days in an equivalent aircraft. But within days there was a mistake when the new spy plane was revealed to be circling over Khan Younis on 28 July.
Until that time the spy planes’ transponders were turned off halfway into their flight from Akrotiri heading towards Gaza over the eastern Mediterranean. But the mistake meant that “the RAF (now contracted) flights could be confirmed over Gaza, not just adjacent to Gaza,” said the flight tracker and analyst Steffan Watkins.
The US has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel’s military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon, according to a copy of a Lebanese cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters.
The plan, submitted by president Donald Trump’s envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, and being discussed at a Lebanese cabinet meeting on Thursday, sets out the most detailed steps yet for disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since last year’s war with Israel.
Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos said after the cabinet meeting on Thursday that the cabinet approved only the objectives of Barrack’s plan but did not discuss it in full.
“We did not delve into the details or components of the US proposal. Our discussion and decision were limited to its objectives,” Morcos said.
The objectives of the US proposal would include phasing out the armed presence of non-state actors including Hezbollah, deploying Lebanese forces to key border and internal areas, ensuring Israel’s withdrawal from the five positions, resolving prisoner issues through indirect talks, and permanently demarcating Lebanon’s borders with Israel and Syria.
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Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza, despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad.
“We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News Channel 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.”
Netanyahu made the comments shortly before 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.
The security cabinet session follows another meeting this week with the head of the military, which Israeli officials have described as tense, saying Eyal Zamir had pushed back on expanding the campaign.
Two government sources told Reuters any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.
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Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avichay Adraee is calling on Palestinians in the al-Daraj and al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City’s old town to “evacuate immediately”.
He wrote on X: “The IDF continues to operate with great force wherever terrorist activity is carried out and rockets are fired towards Israel.”
People are advised to move towards the Bedouin coastal town of al-Mawasi – an Israel-designated civilian “safe zone” where up to 500,000 Palestinians are sheltering in overcrowded conditions.
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Hamas said in a statement that Benjamin Netanyahu’s remark that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza constituted “a coup” amid the Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Netanyahu’s plans to expand Israel’s Gaza offensive show his aim is to sacrifice Israel’s own hostages to serve his personal interests, Hamas added.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Local hospitals said at least 42 have been killed today.
Of those, at least 13 were said to be trying to get aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza.
Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Nasser hospital.
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Outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to protest against the notion of an expanded war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all of the hostages.
Protesters held signs bearing the faces of hostages still held in Gaza and voiced deep frustration with the government’s handling of the crisis.
“I’m here because I am sick and tired of this government. It’s ruined our life,” said 55-year-old Noa Starkman, a Jerusalem resident who was born in a southern Israeli community close to where Hamas attacked in October 2023.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents captives held in Gaza, urged military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to oppose widening the war and the government to accept a deal that would end the war and free the remaining hostages.
The day so far
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza and will eventually hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly. “We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip.
The Israeli security cabinet has begun discussing a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. It represents a move that, if it happens, would come despite fierce opposition from many in Israel, including the families of hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.
Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, AP reported.
The medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for the immediate closure of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation operating in Gaza, describing GHF-run food distribution sites in Gaza as having become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”. In a social media post on Thursday, MSF wrote: “In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians. The GHF-run food distributions in Gaza, Palestine, have become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”, not humanitarian aid.”
There is an upward trend in the number of trucks entering Gaza but it is still below what was agreed between the European Union and Israel under a deal last month on improving humanitarian access, the bloc’s foreign policy and humanitarian arms said in a document seen by Reuters on Thursday. The UN and other partners report that 463 trucks were offloaded at crossing points to Gaza between 29 July and 4 August, the document said.
Israeli authorities returned the body of a Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli settler last week, after female Bedouin relatives launched a hunger strike to protest against the authority’s decision to hold his body in custody, reports the Associated Press. The hunger strike was a rare public call from Bedouin women who traditionally mourn in private. Witnesses said Awdah al-Hathaleen was shot and killed by a radical Israeli settler during a confrontation caught on video last month.
Zadie Smith, Michael Rosen, Irvine Welsh and Jeanette Winterson are among more than 200 writers who have signed a letter calling for an “immediate and complete” boycott of Israel until the people of Gaza are given adequate food, water and aid. Hanif Kureishi, Brian Eno, Elif Shafak, George Monbiot, Benjamin Myers, Geoff Dyer and Sarah Hall also signed the letter, which advocates the cessation of all “trade, exchange and business” with Israel.
Human Rights Watch have called on governments worldwide to suspend their arms transfers to Israel after deadly airstrikes on two Palestinian schools last year, reports the Associated Press. Human Rights Watch said an investigation did not find any evidence of a military target at either school.
Gaza has seen its highest monthly figure of acute malnutrition in children, with hunger-related deaths rising in the territory, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. He added that malnutrition is widespread in the territory, reports Reuters.
Demonstrations have been planned across Israel on Thursday evening to protest against the expected security cabinet decision, reports the Associated Press. On Thursday morning, almost two dozen relatives of hostages being held in Gaza set sail from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers on boats to their relatives in Gaza.
Police on Thursday said they had charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under anti-terrorism laws. Two women and a man were charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 after their arrest at a protest in central London on 5 July, the capital’s Metropolitan police force said.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Eyal Zamir vowed on Thursday to continue expressing the military’s position “without fear” ahead of an expected security cabinet meeting where war plans for Gaza will likely be discussed. “We will continue to express our position without fear, in a pragmatic, independent, and professional manner,” Zamir said according to a military statement reported by Agence France-Presse.
Indonesia will convert a medical facility on its currently uninhabited island of Galang to treat about 2,000 injured residents of Gaza, who will return home after recovery, a presidential spokesperson said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Muslim-majority Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians (the Gaza health ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants).
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday it was important that Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords, saying it will ensure peace in the region. “Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
The United States has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel’s military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon, according to copy of a Lebanese cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters. The plan, submitted by US president Donald Trump’s envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, and being discussed at a Lebanese cabinet meeting on Thursday, sets out the most detailed steps yet for disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since last year’s devastating war with Israel.
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The Israeli security cabinet has begun discussing a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
It represents a move that, if it happens, would come despite fierce opposition from many in Israel, including the families of hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.
The meeting comes on a day when at least 42 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza, according to local hospitals.
The United States has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel’s military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon, according to copy of a Lebanese cabinet agenda reviewed by Reuters.
The plan, submitted by US president Donald Trump’s envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, and being discussed at a Lebanese cabinet meeting on Thursday, sets out the most detailed steps yet for disarming the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has rejected mounting calls to disarm since last year’s devastating war with Israel.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lebanese government ministers could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hezbollah had no immediate comment on the proposal, but three political sources told Reuters that ministers from the Iran-backed group and their Muslim Shi’ite allies withdrew from Thursday’s cabinet meeting in protest at discussions of the proposal.
Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds.
Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, AP reported.
Neither the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation nor the Israeli military, which helps secure the group’s sites, commented on the strikes or shootings. The military zone, known as the Morag Corridor, is off limits to independent media.
The funeral for a Palestinian activist killed by Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank was held earlier today.
Awdah Hathaleen was laid to rest on Thursday in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank.
Hathaleen was a respected activist and journalist who helped produce the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
He was shot and killed during an attack on his village, Umm al-Khair
Israel's Netanyahu says he wants to take control of all of Gaza
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza and will eventually hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.
“We intend to,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip.
“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.”
He made the comments as the security cabinet were due to meet on Thursday. More on this as we get it.
This post has been corrected to clarify Netanyahu’s quote.
Updated
Zadie Smith, Michael Rosen, Irvine Welsh and Jeanette Winterson are among more than 200 writers who have signed a letter calling for an “immediate and complete” boycott of Israel until the people of Gaza are given adequate food, water and aid.
Hanif Kureishi, Brian Eno, Elif Shafak, George Monbiot, Benjamin Myers, Geoff Dyer and Sarah Hall also signed the letter, which advocates the cessation of all “trade, exchange and business” with Israel.
Hunger-related deaths in Gaza have risen to 197, following last week’s alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”.
In early March Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza, preventing food, water and medical supplies from entering the territory. In mid-May, after growing international pressure, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said shipments would restart. However, records from Cogat, the Israeli agency that controls aid shipments into Gaza, show that the quantity of aid reaching the territory in May and June fell well below subsistence levels.
The writers “call on all people, institutions, governments and states to observe an immediate and complete boycott of all forms of trade, exchange and business with the state of Israel until the people of Gaza are adequately provided with drinking water, food and medical supplies, and until all other forms of relief and necessity are restored to the people of Gaza under the aegis of the United Nations”.
The letter, which was organised by the writers Horatio Clare and Sean Murray, has 207 signatories, including Laline Paull, Patrick Gale, Michel Faber and Marina Warner. It follows a May letter signed by hundreds of writers, also co-organised by Clare, stating that Israel’s attacks on Gaza amount to genocide.
There is an upward trend in the number of trucks entering Gaza but it is still below what was agreed between the European Union and Israel under a deal last month on improving humanitarian access, the bloc’s foreign policy and humanitarian arms said in a document seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The UN and other partners report that 463 trucks were offloaded at crossing points to Gaza between 29 July and 4 August, the document said.
Netanyahu to seek approval for expanded Gaza offensive as security cabinet meet today
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has convened a security cabinet expected to be held on Thursday evening to discuss the full occupation of the Gaza Strip, which aid agencies have warned would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths and further mass displacement.
The families of the roughly 20 remaining living hostages have called for Israelis to protest against the government and a decision they fear would endanger the lives of their loved ones.
On Thursday morning, about 20 family members of those still held captive in Gaza boarded about 10 boats that departed from the coastal city of Ashkelon, near the border with Gaza, carrying yellow flags and posters bearing the images of the hostages, as they shouted their names.
Speaking in English through a megaphone, Yehuda Cohen, whose son, Nimrod, was captured by Hamas on 7 October 2023, said: “Mayday, mayday, mayday. We need all international assistance to rescue the 50 hostages who are nearly two years held by the hand of Hamas.”
“Please, we need international help,” Cohen added.
Of the 251 people kidnapped on 7 October by Hamas and its allies, 49 remain hostages in Gaza, of whom 27 have been declared dead by the army.
Israeli authorities returned the body of a Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli settler last week, after female Bedouin relatives launched a hunger strike to protest against the authority’s decision to hold his body in custody, reports the Associated Press (AP). The hunger strike was a rare public call from Bedouin women who traditionally mourn in private.
Witnesses said Awdah al-Hathaleen was shot and killed by a radical Israeli settler during a confrontation caught on video last month.
Israeli authorities said they would only return the body if the family agrees to certain conditions that would “prevent public disorder.” Despite dropping some of their demands, family members said Israel set up checkpoints and prevented many mourners from outside the village from attending.
The plight of Palestinians in this area of the West Bank, known as Masafer Yatta, was featured in No Other Land, an Oscar-winning documentary about settler violence and life under Israeli military rule. Al-Hathaleen, a political activist and an English teacher, was a contributor to the film and close friend of its Palestinian co-directors.
Human Rights Watch have called on governments worldwide to suspend their arms transfers to Israel after deadly airstrikes on two Palestinian schools last year, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Human Rights Watch said an investigation did not find any evidence of a military target at either school. At least 49 people were killed in the airstrikes that hit the Khadija girls’ school in Deir al-Balah on 27 July 2024, and the al-Zeitoun C school in Gaza City on 21 September 2024.
Gaza recorded its highest monthly number of acute malnutrition cases in children, says WHO
Gaza has seen its highest monthly figure of acute malnutrition in children, with hunger-related deaths rising in the territory, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. He added that malnutrition is widespread in the territory, reports Reuters.
“In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded,” said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at its headquarters in Geneva.
Here are some of the latest images coming in via the newswires today:
Demonstrations planned in Israel to protest expected cabinet decision on expansion of war
Demonstrations have been planned across Israel on Thursday evening to protest against the expected security cabinet decision, reports the Associated Press (AP).
On Thursday morning, almost two dozen relatives of hostages being held in Gaza set sail from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers on boats to their relatives in Gaza.
The families denounced Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand military operations. According to the AP, Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza, said from the boat that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to satisfy extremists in his government and to prevent it from collapsing.
“Netanyahu is working only for himself,” he said, pleading with the international community to put pressure on Netanyahu.
At least 29 Palestinians killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza
At least 29 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said 12 of the fatalities were from people attempting to access aid near a distribution site run by a US and Israeli-backed private contractor. At least 50 people were injured, many from gunshots, the hospital said.
Neither the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation nor the Israeli military, which helps secure the group’s sites, immediately commented on the strikes or shootings, reports the AP.
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UK police charge three people after Palestine Action ban
Police on Thursday said they had charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under anti-terrorism laws.
Two women and a man were charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 after their arrest at a protest in central London on 5 July, the capital’s Metropolitan police force said. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a spokesperson for the force said there had already been seven charges in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.
The announcement comes ahead of a planned protest in support of the group outside the UK parliament on Saturday, with organisers saying more than 500 people are expected to attend.
“I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions,” Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counter terror department, said in a statement.
Jeremy Shippam and Judit Murray, both 71, and Fiona Maclean, 53, will appear at Westminster magistrates court in London on 16 September, the Met said.
Murphy said more people arrested at the 5 July demonstration face charges. “We are … planning to send case files to the Crown Prosecution Service for the other 26 people arrested on the same day,” he said.
The government banned Palestine Action days after several of its activists broke into an air force base in southern England. Prosecutors have said they caused an estimated £7m ($9.3m) of damage to two aircraft.
Being a member or supporting the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
In late July, a judge ruled that Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori could launch a court bid to overturn the ban.
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We have some graphics that lay bare the scale of the human catastrophe that has been taking place in Gaza in recent weeks.
First, this graph shows the increase in the number of people who have reportedly died from starvation since 21 July.
And below, we can see how the number of daily deaths and injuries suffered while seeking aid in Gaza has also gone up.
Close to 200 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began, nearly half of them children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza, according to local health officials, who said that at least 20 people had been killed in airstrikes across the territory on Thursday.
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday it was important that Middle Eastern countries join the Abraham Accords, saying it will ensure peace in the region.
“Now that the nuclear arsenal being ‘created’ by Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, it is very important to me that all Middle Eastern Countries join the Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
As part of the Abraham Accords, signed during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Efforts to expand the accords have been complicated by a soaring death toll and starvation in Gaza.
Red paint and slogans were daubed at the entry to the offices of national Israeli airline El Al in Paris, with Israel on Thursday urging French authorities to take legal action, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans and inscriptions, including “Free Palestine” and “El Al Genocide Airline”, were written on the entrance which was also daubed with red paint as well as the pavement overnight Wednesday to Thursday, reports AFP.
“I condemn the barbaric and violent act against El Al and expect the law enforcement authorities in France to locate the criminals and take strong action against them,” Israel’s transport minister Miri Regev wrote on X.
According to AFP, she claimed the act was the result of announcements by president Emmanuel Macron that “make gifts to” Palestinian militant group Hamas, in apparent reference to his announcement last month that France plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Israel’s ambassador to France Joshua Zarka visited the scene, describing the vandalism as an “act of terrorism” that aims to “terrorise El Al employees, terrorise Israeli citizens, scare them and try to make them feel that they are not welcome”.
According to El Al, quoted by Israeli TV channel N12, “the incident occurred while the building was empty and there was no danger to the company’s employees”.
“El Al proudly displays the Israeli flag on the tail of its aircraft and condemns all forms of violence, particularly those based on antisemitism,” the national airline added.
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Agence France-Presse (AFP) has more of the statement from Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Eyal Zamir that we reported on earlier (see 12.15pm BST).
“We are not dealing with theory – we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defence of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and citizens,” Zamir said in his statement, adding:
We will continue to act with responsibility, integrity, and determination – with only the good of the state and its security before us.
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Israel army chief vows to keep expressing military’s stance 'without fear'
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Eyal Zamir vowed on Thursday to continue expressing the military’s position “without fear” ahead of an expected security cabinet meeting where war plans for Gaza will likely be discussed.
“We will continue to express our position without fear, in a pragmatic, independent, and professional manner,” Zamir said according to a military statement reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
European Commission official tells Politico that Israel's actions 'look very much' like genocide
European Commission executive vice-president Teresa Ribera has said Israel’s actions in Gaza “looks very much” like genocide. Ribera made the comments in an interview with Politico’s Brussels Playbook on Thursday.
Ribera told the publication:
What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death. A concrete population is confined, with no homes – being destroyed – no food, water or medicines – being forbidden to access – and subject to bombing and shooting even when they are trying to get humanitarian aid. Any humanity is absent, and no witness[es] are allowed.
She concluded:
If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.
Politico said Israeli authorities did not reply when asked to respond. Israel has repeatedly denied the allegation of genocide and the European Commission as an institution has not used the term genocide to describe Israeli actions.
Ribera also told Politico that the union should look at suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, which is the foundation of their trading and economic relationship.
Last month, the EU has said “there are indications” that Israel is in breach of human rights obligations over its conduct in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for immediate sanctions.
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Under mounting US pressure, Lebanon’s government is being forced into a dangerous choice. Does it want to fight a war with Israel or does it want to fight a war at home, with Hezbollah?
In recent weeks, the US has been pushing for the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The government had already been moving in that direction, but not at the pace the US wanted. Lebanese media began to fill with warnings from unnamed sources that if Hezbollah’s arms were not confiscated soon, a second war with Israel could be on the horizon.
On Tuesday, the Lebanese government acquiesced and announced the Lebanese army would draw up a plan to place arms exclusively within the hands of the state by year’s end. Hezbollah and its political ally Amal announced the next day that they would “treat the decision as if it did not exist” and accused the government of serving US diktats.
US pressure for faster disarmament has laid the seeds for a scenario the Lebanese government has taken pains to avoid: a confrontation with Hezbollah. If cornered, the group could resort to force to defend its arsenal.
Lebanon’s current government was born after the latest Hezbollah-Israel war, with the US as its midwife. A battered Hezbollah could no longer maintain its side of a stalemate that had left Lebanon without a president for two years, and Joseph Aoun, the former army chief, was elected amid heavy US pressure.
The election of Aoun, who included in his mandate restoring the state’s monopoly on violence, was an extraordinary sign of how much Lebanon, and the region, had changed in the past year.
The Hostage Families Forum has urged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, to “stand strong” against Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Times of Israel, the statement reads:
Chief of staff, we are asking you to stand strong. You are the supreme commander. Don’t consent to endanger our loved ones …The families of the hostages call on IDF commanders at all levels not to act in a way that will endanger hostages’ lives and block the possibility of the return of the bodies
Israel’s security cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday evening and sign off on plans for an expanded operation despite reported serious misgivings from senior military officers.
Yesterday, the Israeli military put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders. The move comes amid fears that Netanyahu is preparing to order the full occupation of the Palestinian territory later this week.
According to the Israeli online newspaper, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, called for Israelis to protest outside the cabinet meeting scheduled for tonight at 6pm, local time.
The Times of Israel reports that Einav Zangauker wrote on X:
Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesn’t go and conquer the [Gaza] Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger.
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Médecins Sans Frontières calls for immediate closure of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
The medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for the immediate closure of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation operating in Gaza, describing GHF-run food distribution sites in Gaza as having become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”.
In a social media post on Thursday, MSF wrote:
“In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.”
The GHF-run food distributions in Gaza, Palestine, have become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”, not humanitarian aid.
In a new report, MSF analysed medical data, patients’ testimonies and first-hand medical witnesses at two MSF clinics in Gaza and found that it “point[ed] to both targeted and indiscriminate violence by Israeli forces and private American contractors against starved Palestinians” at food distribution sites run by the GHF.
According to the report, between 7 June and 24 July 2025, 1,380 casualties, including 28 dead, were received at MSF’s al-Mawasi and al-Attar clinics in southern Gaza, located near the GHF-run distribution sites. It added:
During those seven weeks, our teams treated 71 children for gunshot wounds, 25 of whom were under the age of 15. Faced with no alternatives to find food, starved families frequently send teenage boys into this lethal environment, as they are often the only males in the household physically able to make the journey.
Patients have also included a 12-year-old boy hit by a bullet that had passed all the way through his abdomen, and five young girls, one of whom was only 8 years old and suffered a gunshot wound to her chest.
“Children shot in the chest while reaching for food. People crushed or suffocated in stampedes. Entire crowds gunned down at distribution points,” said Raquel Ayora, MSF general director.
In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.
The GHF distribution sites masquerading as ‘aid’ have morphed into a laboratory of cruelty. This must stop now.
MSF said it called for the “immediate dismantling of the GHF scheme; the restoration of the UN-coordinated aid delivery mechanism; and calls on governments, especially the United States, as well as private donors to suspend all financial and political support for the GHF”.
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UN agencies and NGOs warn that most international NGO partners could be deregistered by Israel in coming weeks
UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have warned that without immediate action most international NGO partners could be deregistered by Israel in coming weeks.
A statement published on Thursday by UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (OCHAoPT) and authored by the humanitarian country team of the occupied Palestinian territory, called for the Israeli authorities to rescind requirement introduced on 9 March obliging NGO to share “sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees or face termination of their humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem”.
The statement added:
Unless urgent action is taken, humanitarian organizations warn that most international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner – forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. This requirement is part of a set of new restrictive conditions for international NGOs which include potential consequences for public criticism of policies and practices of the government of Israel.
The humanitarian country team is a strategic decision-making forum led by the humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, bringing together heads of UN entities and more than 200 international and local NGOs working on humanitarian affairs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In its statement, the team said that already, NGOs that are not registered under the new system are prohibited from sending any supplies to Gaza.
“This policy has already prevented the delivery of life-saving aid including medicine, food, and hygiene items. This most profoundly affects women, children, older people, and persons with disabilities, further aggravating the risk of being subjected to abuse and exploitation,” it added.
Impeding NGOs from participating in the collective humanitarian response violates Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law and comes at a time when we are receiving daily reports of death by starvation as Gaza faces famine conditions.
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Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, urged UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.
In a statement, Davey said:
[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.
If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans – while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.
Keir Starmer needs to pick up the phone to President Trump ahead of the Israeli security cabinet’s meeting tomorrow, and get him to do the right thing – by placing genuine pressure on Netanyahu to drop these proposals. Only renewed diplomacy can end the suffering in Gaza and get the hostages home.
Rather than sitting on its hands, the UK government needs to show leadership in this moment.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Wednesday afternoon that Israeli soldiers had “targeted” its headquarters in Khan Younis with an artillery shell.
In a post on X, PRCS wrote:
Breaking – Palestine Red Crescent: The Israeli occupation forces have targeted the 8th floor of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis with an artillery shell.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.
The University of Sydney has removed a Palestinian flag hanging outside an academic’s office after accusing him of breaching its new flag policy.
The 13-page flag policy, revised in June and formerly referred to as flag guidelines, sets out the university’s requirements for flying and displaying flags and using university flagpoles. Under the policy, “unapproved flags” must not be flown permanently, including flags that represent unlawful activities, are inconsistent with university values, represent a political party or are considered to be “otherwise unsuitable”.
Dr David Brophy, a senior lecturer in modern Chinese history, arrived on campus on Tuesday to find his flag, which had been hanging from an external window of a large campus building, had been taken.
Prior to this, he had received an email from the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Prof Lisa Adkins, advising him the university was “aware of a flag” they believed he had displayed on the outer wall of the A18 Brennan MacCallum building.
“We consider that the ongoing display of the flag is inconsistent with clause 2.8(1) of the Policy which confirms that unapproved flags can be displayed in such areas on a temporary basis only,” Adkins wrote on 26 June.
“To this end, we require you to remove the flag from the outer wall of the building by 4 August 2025. Should the flag not be removed by this time, it will be removed by Central Operations staff and will be treated as lost property.”
The policy notes flags must not be flown from university infrastructure without approval from the brand team, and that “no structure or fixture may be attached to any building to allow a flag to be displayed without approval”.
Staff will remove flags that are “unapproved”, considered “inappropriate, dangerous or offensive” or contravene “any university policy”, the policy notes. A breach of the rules can be considered as misconduct.
Adkins noted in her email to Brophy that if he wished to continue to display the flag he could do so in a “non-shared indoor space”, or apply for approval to display the flag outside.
The family of Khamis al-Ayyad, a Palestinian American who died last week as a result of an Israeli settler attack in the occupied West Bank, has called for an investigation into his death, amid a rising number of US citizens killed in the territory.
Ayyad, a 40-year-old father of five and Chicago resident, died from smoke inhalation on Thursday after Israeli settlers attacked the town of Silwad, outside Ramallah, setting homes and cars on fire. Ayyad fainted while trying to put out the fires, his brother said, and died on the way to the hospital.
He was the latest in a string of Palestinian Americans to have died in the West Bank: five US citizens have been killed there since 7 October 2023, and Ayyad was the second to die in July alone.
So far, no one has been held accountable for any of the deaths.
“The government should protect citizens, this is what is written on the American passport. Why do they do nothing when it comes to their own citizens who live in the West Bank?” said Ayyad’s brother, Anas al-Ayyad, 39.
Anas al-Ayyad said that he had contacted the US embassy, who promised him they would look into his brother’s death.
In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the US state department acknowledged the death of a US citizen in Silwad and said they were providing consular assistance to the family.
Members of the US House and Senate called for the Trump administration to pressure Israel to carry out an investigation and ensure accountability for the death of Ayyad and the other Americans killed by settlers in the West Bank.
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Indonesia will convert a medical facility on its currently uninhabited island of Galang to treat about 2,000 injured residents of Gaza, who will return home after recovery, a presidential spokesperson said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians (the Gaza health ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants).
“Indonesia will give medical help for about 2,000 Gaza residents who became victims of war, those who are wounded, buried under debris,” the spokesperson, Hasan Nasbi, told reporters, adding that the exercise was not an evacuation.
Indonesia plans to allocate the facility on Galang island, off its island of Sumatra and south of Singapore, to treat injured Gaza residents and temporarily shelter their families, he said, adding that nobody lived around it now. The patients would be taken back to Gaza after they had healed, he said.
Hasan did not give a timeframe or further details, referring questions to Indonesia’s foreign and defence ministries, which did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The plan comes months after president Prabowo Subianto’s offer to shelter injured Palestinians drew criticism from Indonesia’s top clerics for seeming too close to US president Donald Trump’s suggestion of permanently moving Palestinians out of Gaza.
In response to Trump’s suggestion, the foreign ministry of Indonesia, which backs a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis, said at the time it “strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians”.
Only 1.5% of Gaza cropland left for starving Palestinians due to Israel’s war, UN says
Israel’s destruction of Gaza has left starving Palestinians with access to only 1.5% of cropland that is accessible and suitable for cultivation, according to new figures from the UN.
This is down from 4% in April, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), suggesting Israel has continued to target Palestinian farmland since initiating a complete blockade in early March, severely restricting aid from entering the Gaza Strip, where 2 million starved people are trapped.
Before the conflict, Gaza was a thriving agricultural hub, where farmers and ordinary Palestinians cultivated a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains for local consumption.
According to the FAO, agriculture accounted for around 10% of the Gaza Strip’s economy, and more than 560,000 people, or a quarter of the population, were at least partially supported by agriculture and fishing.
Israel has targeted food sources – orchards, greenhouses, farmland and fishers – since the beginning of its siege on Gaza in October 2023.
By 28 July 2025, Israel had damaged 86%, the equivalent of almost 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres), of farmland in the Gaza Strip – up from 81% in April, the FAO said. While just under 9% of cropland is still physically accessible, only 1.5% – the equivalent of 232 hectares – is both accessible and not damaged by the Israeli offensive.
“Gaza is now on the brink of a full-scale famine. People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,” said FAO director-general Qu Dongyu. “We urgently need safe and sustained humanitarian access and immediate support to restore local food production and livelihoods – this is the only way to prevent further loss of life. The right to food is a basic human right.”
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EU assessment finds 'significant obstructive factors undermine humanitarian operations in Gaza'
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be very severe, an EU official told Reuters after the EU’s foreign policy and humanitarian arms updated member countries late on Wednesday on the status of an agreement reached with Israel last month on boosting humanitarian access to Gaza.
The official said on Thursday that there were some positive developments regarding fuel delivery, the reopening of some routes, and an upward trend in the number of daily trucks entering the territory and the repair of some vital infrastructure.
However, the official added that “significant obstructive factors continue to undermine humanitarian operations and aid delivery to Gaza, notably the lack of a safe operating environment to allow the distribution of aid at scale”.
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Israel's security cabinet expected to meet tonight to sign off plans for expanded Gaza operation
Israel’s security cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday evening and sign off on plans for an expanded operation despite reported serious misgivings from senior military officers.
Yesterday, the Israeli military put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders. The move comes amid fears that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is preparing to order the full occupation of the Palestinian territory later this week.
Israeli online newspaper, the Times of Israel, citing various Hebrew media reports, added that the cabinet is expected to approve “a phased plan to conquer vast new areas of the Gaza Strip, potentially over five months, newly displacing around a million Palestinians”. Additionally, it would aim to destroy Hamas and pressure the group to release all remaining hostages, the publication reported.
Public broadcaster Kan also reported that mediators Egypt and Qatar were pressuring Israel, via the US, not to implement the plan, while also urging Hamas to resume negotiations.
In other developments:
The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be very severe, an EU official told Reuters after the EU’s foreign policy and humanitarian arms updated member countries late on Wednesday on the status of an agreement reached with Israel last month on boosting humanitarian access to Gaza.
Israel’s destruction of Gaza has left starving Palestinians with access to only 1.5% of cropland that is accessible and suitable for cultivation, according to new figures from the UN. This is down from 4% in April, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), suggesting Israel has continued to target Palestinian farmland since initiating a complete blockade in early March.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s health ministry reported that five more people had died from starvation in the coastal strip, which has been plunged into a devastating hunger crisis owing to Israel’s complete block on aid entering earlier this year.
Jordan reported, on Wednesday, that an aid convoy of 30 trucks that had left for Gaza had been attacked by militant Jewish settlers on entering Israel. After the attack, the second in days, Jordan accused Israel of failing to act to prevent repeated assaults.
Naomi Klein and Angela Davis are among dozens of international scholars and writers who have signed a letter to the Guardian calling on the UK government to reverse the ban on Palestine Action. Signatories from major academic institutions around the world also say they are “especially concerned” about the ban’s possible impact on universities across Britain and beyond.
The UK prime minister Keir Starmer has been urged by Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza. In a statement, Davey said: “[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.”
