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Summary
Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City marks “a dangerous escalation” that risks “deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians”, the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said. That decision “will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza,” a statement from the UN chief’s spokesperson added.
The UN Security Council will meet in a rare weekend session on Saturday to discuss the situation. The meeting at 7pm GMT had been requested by several members of the security council as global concern mounts over Israel’s plan.
The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there. Netanyahu accused the German government of “rewarding Hamas terrorism”. The move is hugely significant from Germany, which believes it has a special responsibility towards Israel and is its second-largest arms supplier after the US.
France joined the chorus of countries including among others the UK, China, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, condemning the Israeli plan, saying it would “worsen an already catastrophic situation without enabling the release of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its surrender”. France’s ministry of foreign affairs has issued a press release, condemning the plan “in the strongest terms”. It reads: “These actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and lead to an absolute stalemate. They would undermine the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to live in peace in a viable, sovereign, and contiguous state, and pose a threat to regional stability.” The ministry added that Israel’s plans would “in no way” contribute to the security of Israelis, including the remaining hostages in Gaza. The future of Gaza should be through a “framework of a future Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority”, it said.
Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City “must have consequences for EU-Israel relations”, EU Council president Antonio Costa said on Friday, adding that this will be assessed by the Council and that he urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
Hamas warned the Israeli government that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to “sacrificing” the hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory. The group said: “The decision to occupy Gaza confirms that the criminal [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Nazi government do not care about the fate of their captives.”
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told CNN that Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City won’t save the remaining hostages, but will rather endanger lives and “increase the number of crimes” in the territory. He told CNN today that an expanded military operation “is not going to save the hostages, is going to cost the lives of many soldiers, and is going to cost the lives of many non-involved Palestinians”. Olmert, was prime minister from 2006 to 2009, blamed the decision on Benjamin Netanyahu’s struggle to hold together his government.
Updated
Former Israeli PM says Gaza City takeover plan will endanger many lives
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City won’t save the remaining hostages, but will rather endanger lives and “increase the number of crimes” in the territory.
He told CNN today that an expanded military operation “is not going to save the hostages, is going to cost the lives of many soldiers, and is going to cost the lives of many non-involved Palestinians”.
“It will increase the number of crimes which will be committed not as part of a policy. There is no policy of committing crimes or of genocide or anything like that,” he said. “But this is the nature of this operation.”
Olmert, was prime minister from 2006 to 2009, said ending the war would save the hostages still being held in Gaza and other victims. He blamed the decision on Benjamin Netanyahu’s struggle to hold together his government.
The prime minister personally is captive of a group of messianic partners in the coalition government which holds the tide. And they threaten that if the decision will be different, they will break down the government.
This is the universal consensus in Israel today that this is a political expediency. There is no question about it.
Last month, Olmert told my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison that the so-called “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing.
We now have confirmation of AFP’s report that the United Nations Security Council will indeed meet on Saturday, according to its schedule released today, after Israel’s security cabinet approved a widely condemned plan to take control of Gaza City.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, had earlier said a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.
The meeting will take place at 7pm GMT on Saturday, the schedule says.
Updated
US envoy to Israel taunts UK PM and likens Gaza assault to Dresden bombing
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has launched an undiplomatic attack on Keir Starmer by invoking the allied second world war bombing of Dresden after the British prime minister criticised the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to expand the war in Gaza.
“So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee wrote on social media (repeating the un-evidenced Israeli government talking point that Hamas is stealing aid meant for civilians). He was responding to a post by Starmer calling for an immediate ceasefire and lamenting the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as the fate of the remaining Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.
Provocatively, Huckabee, who has a history of making intemperate comments in Israel’s favour, added:
Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!
The bombing of Dresden by the RAF and US air force in February 1945 is believed to have killed tens of thousands of civilians. It remains one of the most controversial allied acts of the second world war, amid questions marks over its strategic necessity and the widespread destruction in civilian areas.
You can read Robert’s full piece here:
Further to the French foreign minister’s comments I brought you a little while ago, France’s ministry of foreign affairs has issued a press release, condemning “in the strongest terms” the Israeli government’s plans to take control of Gaza City.
It reads:
These actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and lead to an absolute stalemate. They would undermine the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to live in peace in a viable, sovereign, and contiguous state, and pose a threat to regional stability.
The ministry added that Israel’s plans would “in no way” contribute to the security of Israelis, including the remaining hostages in Gaza.
The future of Gaza should be through a “framework of a future Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority”, it said.
In July, Emmanuel Macron said that France will recognize a Palestinian state in September.
Israel occupying Gaza City would 'worsen an already catastrophic situation', says French foreign minister
France has joined the chorus of countries strongly condemning Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza City, saying it would “worsen an already catastrophic situation without enabling the release of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its surrender”.
In a post on X, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, wrote:
France strongly condemns the Israeli government’s plan aimed at preparing for the complete occupation of Gaza. Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic situation without enabling the release of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its surrender.
Updated
UN Security Council meeting on Saturday over Israel’s Gaza plan - report
The United Nations Security Council will meet in a rare weekend session on Saturday to discuss Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, three diplomatic sources have told Agence France-Presse.
The meeting at 7pm GMT had been requested by several members of the security council, a member of the council told AFP, as global concern mounts over Israel’s plan.
UN chief calls Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City a 'dangerous escalation'
United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has criticized Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, with the UN chief’s spokesperson saying the decision marked “a dangerous escalation” that risks “deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians”.
That decision “will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza,” the statement added.
Guterres also posted a statement on X:
I’m gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli Government to “take control of Gaza City”. This marks a dangerous escalation & risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians. It could further endanger more lives, including of the remaining hostages. I reiterate my urgent appeal for a permanent ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access across Gaza & the immediate & unconditional release of all hostages.
It follows the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, saying earlier today that “the Israeli government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted”.
In a statement, Türk said:
It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-state solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
The plan triggered global condemnation, with China, Turkey, Britain and numerous Arab governments issuing statements of concern.
Updated
Displaced repeatedly. Forced to live in tent camps or amid the ruins of their homes. Stricken by hunger and deprived of medical supplies.
Now, 22 months into the war, around a million Palestinians are bracing for another catastrophe after the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to take control of the entire Gaza Strip. Such an offensive would force them toward the south of the enclave, and an uncertain future.
“Since this morning, after hearing the news of evacuation of Gaza City, I have been been feeling anxious and afraid,’’ said Umm Ibrahim Banat, a 55-year-old mother, originally from northern Gaza, who has already been displaced four times. ‘‘Where will we go with the children and the elderly? I swear we are exhausted from displacement, starvation, and being driven from one place to another.”
“Now,” she said, “We are the walking dead.’’
Following a 10-hour overnight meeting, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Friday that his security cabinet had approved a plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation of Israel’s offensive that has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
According to Israel’s Channel 12 the plan, which would mean sending ground troops into the territory, could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory and force approximately 1 million Palestinians in Gaza City and other areas into evacuation areas in the southern part of the enclave.
“Gaza has been completely destroyed – what more can they do?”, said Banat, whose daughter Maryam was killed with her husband and children. “We have lost the best of our youth; our territory is a huge prison besieged by land, sea, and air; the destruction has become unbearable; diseases are spreading, tents stretch as far as the eye can see, water is contaminated, prices are insane, hospitals are in ruins, our lives are utterly tragic! What more do they want?”
The US and UK have “disagreements” on Gaza including over whether to recognise a Palestinian state, JD Vance has suggested as he arrived in England for his summer holiday.
The US vice-president was speaking ahead of a bilateral meeting with David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, at his 17th-century grace-and-favour country house, Chevening.
His remarks on Gaza marked a note of discord in what otherwise appeared to be a convivial meeting between the two politicians, who have struck up an unlikely friendship. The pair have bonded over their Christian faith and difficult childhoods.
Before speaking to reporters on Friday afternoon, Lammy and Vance were filmed fishing for carp together in a pond near Chevening House. Expressing his love for the UK and describing Lammy as a “good friend” and “gracious host”, Vance joked that their varying degrees of success in the carp pond was the “one strain on the special relationship”.
“All of my kids caught fish, but the foreign secretary did not,” he said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told German chancellor Friedrich Merz that Israel’s goal is not to take over Gaza, but to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there, the prime minister’s office said on X.
Netanyahu expressed his disappointment with Berlin’s decision to suspend weapons exports to Israel during the phone call with Merz on Friday, the office added.
Palestinians on the street following an Israeli attack on the ez-Zeytun neighborhood in Gaza City today…
The day so far
The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there.
Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City “must have consequences for EU-Israel relations”, EU Council president Antonio Costa said on Friday, adding that this will be assessed by the Council and that he urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
Despite the announcement of the Israeli plan, mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told the Associated Press anonymously.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the security cabinet’s Gaza City decision as “a disaster that will lead to many more disasters” and said far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich had dragged Benjamin Netanyahu into something that was “exactly what Hamas wanted”. Lapid said the decision would lead to the deaths of more hostages and many soldiers as well as “political collapse”.
Hamas said in a statement that “Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda”. And in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments on taking over Gaza, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund will announce changes to the handling of its Israeli investments, finance minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, ruling out any blanket withdrawal over the war in Gaza. The fund itself said it would provide an update on its Israeli investments on Tuesday.
David Lammy said he would be discussing the “developing situation in Gaza” and the ongoing war in Ukraine with JD Vance. Sitting alongside the US vice-president at the start of a bilateral meeting at Chevening House, the UK foreign secretary said: “Of course we will be discussing the developing situation in Gaza, which is a great concern, and of course the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the desire to see that come to an end.”
Saudi Arabia condemns any Israeli move to take control of Gaza, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. The kingdom “categorically denounces Israeli occupation authorities’ persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people,” it said in a statement.
An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said on Friday, according to the Associated Press (AP).
China expressed “serious concerns” on Friday over Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, urging it to “immediately cease its dangerous actions”. “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a message.
Turkey has urged the international community to prevent Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, saying it was a “heavy blow” to peace and security. “We call on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent the implementation of this decision, which aims to forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, reports Reuters.
Israel’s decision to intensify its military operation in Gaza is wrong and should immediately be reversed, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Denmark’s TV2 on Friday. Jordan also condemned Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City.
Hamas warned the Israeli government on Friday that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to “sacrificing” the hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory. The group said: “The decision to occupy Gaza confirms that the criminal [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Nazi government do not care about the fate of their captives.”
More than a hundred UK-based Israelis and allies led by the grassroots activist group Mi-neged staged a protest outside the Foreign Office on Thursday evening, calling for the UK to impose immediate sanctions on Israel and end the war in Gaza.
Hundreds of demonstrators outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening protested against any expansion of the war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all hostages.
Israel's Gaza plan 'must have consequences for EU-Israel relations'
Israel’s decision to take over Gaza City “must have consequences for EU-Israel relations”, EU Council president Antonio Costa said on Friday, adding that this will be assessed by the Council and that he urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
“Not only [does the decision] violate the agreement with the EU announced by the High Representative on July 19 but also undermines fundamental principles of international law and universal values,” Costa, who heads the European Council that represents EU member states, added in his statement on X.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News in an interview that aired on Thursday that the military intended to take control of all of Gaza.
The announcement from the prime minister’s office early on Friday after Thursday’s security cabinet meeting said the military would take Gaza City, but did not say if Israeli forces would take all of the enclave.
Israel’s cabinet is expected to endorse the Gaza City plan.
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund will announce changes to the handling of its Israeli investments, finance minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, ruling out any blanket withdrawal over the war in Gaza.
The fund itself said it would provide an update on its Israeli investments on Tuesday. The government this week launched an urgent review of the investments over ethics concerns linked to the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
“I see several measures over time, but what can be addressed quickly, must be done quickly,” Stoltenberg told a press conference after holding his second meeting with fund officials in three days.
He did not say what these measures could be, but added that there would not be a wholesale divestment from all Israeli companies. “If we did that, it would mean we are divesting from them because they are Israeli,” he said.
US vice-president JD Vance said the US has “no plans” to recognise a state of Palestine during a bilateral meeting with foreign secretary David Lammy at Chevening House.
He said: “Obviously the United Kingdom’s going to make its decision. We have no plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
“I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state, given the lack of functional government there.”
He added that the US government’s two goals are “very simple”, saying: “Number one, it’s we want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas.
“Second, the president has been very moved by these terrible images of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, so we want to make sure that we solve that problem.
“I think all of us can work on how to solve that problem. Obviously, it’s not an easy problem to solve, or it would have already been dealt with, but we share, I think, that focus and that goal. We may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we’ll talk about that today.”
More than a hundred UK-based Israelis and allies led by the grassroots activist group Mi-neged staged a protest outside the Foreign Office on Thursday evening, calling for the UK to impose immediate sanctions on Israel and end the war in Gaza.
As civil servants and politicians left the Cabinet Office after work, 98 demonstrators raised 98 red and black globes and a large sign that read: “You let Israel murder 98 today. Each person is a world.” Other signs read “Israelis against genocide” and “stop arming Israel”.
Mi-neged recently sent UK prime minister Keir Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy a letter signed by more than 200 Israeli citizens living in the UK.
A Mi-neged spokesperson said:
Keir Starmer says the UK might act in September. Yet every single day that passes we hear of more people killed by Israel in Gaza. Some by plane, some by bullet, some by engineered starvation. Today it was 98 Palestinians. It is impossible to fully comprehend the scale of this human-made tragedy.
We’ve come here today to physically represent this unconscionable number and to remind our representatives that every single one of those murdered in Gaza is an entire universe, as full, complex and real as they are. For more than 60,000 people it is already too late.
Starmer’s ‘threat’ that the UK will recognise Palestine has unsurprisingly had no effect, and Israel is only talking of ramping up its horrific assault with a full-blown occupation of Gaza. The UK must take immediate action to sanction Israel in ways that would impose a real cost in order to stop its genocidal destruction of Gaza and its people, and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
Updated
David Lammy said he would be discussing the “developing situation in Gaza” and the ongoing war in Ukraine with JD Vance.
Sitting alongside the US vice-president at the start of a bilateral meeting at Chevening House, the UK foreign secretary said:
Of course we will be discussing the developing situation in Gaza, which is a great concern, and of course the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the desire to see that come to an end.
Updated
In a statement about the latest decision from the Israeli government, the independent MP, and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn has restated his claim that the UK is “complicit in genocide”.
Corbyn said:
If the government was truly horrified by Israel’s occupation of Gaza, it would stop supplying them with the weapons they need to carry it out.
The prime minister can condemn Israel’s plans all he wants. He cannot hide the truth: his government is complicit in genocide.
Updated
Belgium FM summons Israeli ambassador, saying Gaza military expansion plans are 'unacceptable'
Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot said on X that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned to express “our total disapproval of this decision”.
In a statement published to the social media site on Friday, Prévot said:
Following the Israeli government’s official confirmation of its intention to subsequently surround and occupy the city of Gaza, and take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador.
The aim is clearly to express our total disapproval of this decision, but also of the continued colonisation, in particular the resumption of the E1 project east of Jerusalem, and the desire to annex the West Bank as was recently promoted by the Knesset.
All of these actions, with a potential to wipe Palestine completely off the map, are unacceptable and contrary to international law, United Nations resolutions and the decisions of the International Court of Justice. They also pose a major risk to the Israeli hostages still being held.
We must therefore vigorously advocate for a reversal of these plans, which would permanently compromise any prospect of a ceasefire and a peaceful and lasting two-state solution, which Belgium has been insisting on for months, not to mention full free access by land for humanitarian aid.
While it is legitimate to want to destroy the terrorist group Hamas, this cannot be achieved through disproportionate operations that will further lengthen the already very long list of Palestinian civilian victims.
Germany will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza “until further notice”, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced.
It was a quick response by one of Israel’s strongest international backers to a decision by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet to take over Gaza City.
The move by Germany, which had previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel’s government taken by some of its European Union allies, appears likely to further isolate Israel over the military takeover plan which has been condemned by the United Nations and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
In a statement, Merz emphasised that Israel “has the right to defend itself against Hamas’s terror” and said the release of Israeli hostages and “purposeful” negotiations towards a ceasefire in the 22-month conflict “are our top priority”.
He added that Hamas must not have a role in the future of Gaza.
Saudi Arabia condemns any Israeli move to take control of Gaza, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The kingdom “categorically denounces Israeli occupation authorities’ persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people,” it said in a statement.
Palestinians in Gaza expressed fear, frustration and exhaustion on Thursday after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he wanted Israel to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip.
Those displaced by the fighting shared their opinions hours after Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel intended to take over the entire territory for security purposes but did not plan to govern it long-term.
He said the aim would be to eventually hand over control to Arab forces, though he gave no specifics on what that could entail.
Hamas says Israeli takeover of Gaza City 'means sacrificing' the hostages
Hamas warned the Israeli government on Friday that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to “sacrificing” the hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The group said: “The decision to occupy Gaza confirms that the criminal [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Nazi government do not care about the fate of their captives.”
Hamas added:
They understand that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them.
Updated
The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for the Gaza City takeover plan to be “reconsidered”, urging the release of hostages and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory.
In a post on X, she said:
The Israeli government’s decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered.
At the same time, there must be the release of all hostages, who are being held in inhumane conditions.
And humanitarian aid must be given immediate and unhindered access to Gaza to deliver what is urgently needed on the ground.
A ceasefire is needed now.
Despite the announcement of the Israeli plan, mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told the Associated Press anonymously.
The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the contentious issue of what to do with Hamas’ weapons, with Israel seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. One official, who is directly involved in the efforts, said discussions are underway about “freezing arms,” which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. It also calls for the group to relinquish power in the strip.
A Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a new police force, trained by two US allies in the Middle East, to take over the strip, he said. It is unclear what role the Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play.
A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media, said the group’s leadership has been aware of the Arab mediators’ efforts to revive the ceasefire talks, but has yet to receive details.
Associated Press reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel for comment.
Israel’s decision to intensify its military operation in Gaza is wrong and should immediately be reversed, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Denmark’s TV2 on Friday.
Jordan also condemned Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City.
Israel’s plan to intensify operations in Gaza is “a wrong move”, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said on Friday.
Veldkamp said in a statement on X:
The plan of the Netanyahu government to intensify Israeli operations in Gaza is a wrong move.
The [Gaza] humanitarian situation is catastrophic and demands immediate improvement. This decision in no way contributes to this and will also not help to get the hostages home.
Hamas calls Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City 'a new war crime'
Hamas described the Israeli government’s plan to take control of Gaza City as a “new war crime” on Friday, warning the operation would cost it “dearly”.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the group said in a statement:
The Zionist cabinet’s approval of plans to occupy Gaza City and evacuate its residents constitutes a new war crime that the occupation army intends to commit against the city.
We warn the criminal occupation that this criminal adventure will cost it dearly and will not be an easy journey.
Germany halts military exports that could be used in Gaza, Merz says
The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there.
Merz said it was Israel’s right to disarm Hamas and to seek the release of the Israeli hostages but “the German government believes that the even tougher military action in the Gaza Strip decided upon by the Israeli cabinet last night makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved”.
According to Reuters, Merz said in a statement:
Under these circumstances, the German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice.
The release of the hostages and negotiations for a ceasefire are Germany’s top priorities, Merz said, expressing deep concern over the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Germany’s parliament said in June that export licences for military equipment to Israel worth €485m ($564m) were granted between 7 October 2023 and 13 May 2025, reports Reuters.
Spain has condemned the Israeli government’s decision to escalate its military occupation of Gaza.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said:
We firmly condemn the decision of the Israeli government to escalate the military occupation of Gaza. It will only cause more destruction and suffering.”
He added that “a permanent ceasefire, the immediate and massive entry of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages are urgently needed”.
Updated
An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said on Friday, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The Thursday afternoon airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
“We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom,” Marwan Abdel-Al, a senior PFLP official, wrote in a post on social media about the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein.
According to the AP, a PFLP official said Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and injured 10, without identifying the victims. Additionally, on Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, the NNA said.
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) accused Israeli forces of targeting a group of Palestinian civilians waiting to receive aid in Gaza yesterday and killing one of its staff members.
In a post on X on Thursday, the PRCS wrote:
Today, our colleague Ashraf Suleiman Eid Yousef (44), a staff member in the administrative services department at the Sarayah field hospital in Gaza City, was killed after Israeli forces targeted a group of civilians while they were waiting to receive aid in the Kisufim area, east of the central governorate.
This brings the total number of PRCS team members killed to 53.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify this report.
Updated
The Green party has also called for the end of all UK arms sales to Israel. Ellie Chowns, the Green MP and a candidate to be co-leader in the current leadership contest, posted this on social media:
[Benjamin] Netanyahu’s brutal plan to take control of Gaza is yet another declaration of intent to commit war crimes.
The UK must do more than express disapproval: end military cooperation and arms sales, recognise Palestine, demand an immediate ceasefire and accountability for war crimes.
The international charity ActionAid UK said on Friday that it was “deeply alarmed” by the Israeli government’s plan to take control of Gaza City, describing it as a “horrifying escalation”.
Hannah Bond, the co-CEO of ActionAid UK, said:
We are deeply alarmed that the Israeli government has decided to push ahead with its plan to take control of Gaza City, which clearly violates international humanitarian law. This horrifying escalation will forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are already experiencing starvation and have nowhere else to flee, and will inevitably result in even more bloodshed.
The UK government has condemned this decision but it should know by now that words are not enough to stop the Israeli authorities from pursuing a course of destruction. It needs to take real tangible action immediately: that includes halting all arms exports to the Israeli government and imposing further sanctions. If third states delay any longer, there will be nothing of Gaza left.
Updated
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said the Israeli government’s decision to occupy Gaza City will “create even more human suffering”.
In a post on X, he wrote:
The decision of the Israeli government to seize control of Gaza City is completely and utterly unacceptable. It will create even more human suffering for the Palestinian people and further escalate the conflict.
The international community must stop Israel and secure a ceasefire.
Updated
China expressed “serious concerns” on Friday over Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, urging it to “immediately cease its dangerous actions”.
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a message.
“The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire,” they added.
“A complete resolution to the Gaza conflict hinges on a ceasefire; only then can a path to de-escalation be paved and regional security ensured,” the spokesperson said.
Beijing said on Friday it was “willing to work together with the international community to help end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible”.
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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has accused the Israeli government of sentencing the remaining living Israeli hostages and captives in Gaza “to death”, reports the Times of Israel.
In a statement in reaction to the Israeli security cabinet’s plan to take over Gaza City, the group said:
Tonight, the Israeli government sentenced the living hostages to death and the fallen hostages to disappearance.
The cabinet decision to launch the process of occupying the [Gaza] Strip is an official declaration of the abandonment of the hostages, while completely ignoring the repeated warnings by the military echelon and the clear desire of most of the public in Israel.
According to the Israeli online newspaper, the Forum’s statement also accuses the government of acting against the national interest with a “foolish” move of “deception and unforgivable moral and security neglect” that brings Israel closer to a “colossal disaster for the hostages and [IDF] fighters”.
The group added that it was not too late and that the plan could be stopped, with the government seeking a deal to end the war and return all the hostages.
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The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, has said it was “increasingly clear” that Benjamin Netanyahu’s “goal is ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and urged the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel and sanction the Israeli PM.
Davey said:
Netanyahu’s plans to occupy the whole of Gaza are utterly abhorrent – and it’s increasingly clear that his goal is ethnic cleansing.
This plan will only serve to wreak more devastation on the lives of millions of Gazans – whose homes and communities have already been destroyed – while endangering the lives of those hostages still held by Hamas.
Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel – today – and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet.
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Turkey condemns Israel's Gaza City plan and calls for international action
Turkey has urged the international community to prevent Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, saying it was a “heavy blow” to peace and security.
“We call on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent the implementation of this decision, which aims to forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday, reports Reuters.
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UN says Israel's plan for military takeover of Gaza 'must be immediately halted'
The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said on Friday that “the Israeli government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted”.
In a statement, Türk said:
It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-state solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
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Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen said she was “extremely worried” by the looming famine in Gaza.
According to Reuters, Valtonen said:
We hope for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and the immediate release of Israeli hostages.
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Escalation of Gaza offensive will 'only bring more bloodshed' says UK PM
UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Israel’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
In a statement, Starmer said:
The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.
Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm.
Together with our allies, we are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution, and ultimately achieve a brighter future for Palestinians and Israelis.
But without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes.
Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction.
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In additional comments, this time to Sky News, Fahnbulleh said:
We think that the decision is the wrong decision. We think that it will risk escalating an already intolerable situation, and the consequence will be more bloodshed. There’s no one that can see what is happening and unfolding in Gaza that isn’t horrified by it.
Our priority is, in order to try and get a ceasefire, we’ve got to get parties around the table. I know it feels incredibly hard given the current situation, but it has to be the priority.
The UK hopes Israel will reconsider its decision to take control of Gaza City, a junior energy minister said on Friday, reports Reuters.
Miatta Fahnbulleh told Times Radio:
We think that decision is the wrong decision, and we hope that the Israeli government will reconsider it.
It risks escalating an already intolerable and atrocious situation.
The Times of Israel reports that Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats party, has said that Benjamin Netanyahu and the security cabinet’s decision means that “more hostages will be abandoned to their deaths”.
Of the Israeli prime minister, he said:
He is weak, easily pressured, lacking decision-making ability, and without the capacity to bridge between what the professional level presents and the group of messianists controlling the government.
Golan described the decision as “a disaster for generations”.
Speaking to the Israeli Army Radio, Golan said:
Our sons and grandsons will still patrol the alleys of Gaza, we will pay hundreds of billions over the years, and all this for reasons of political survival and messianic visions.
Asking how the government plans to demilitarize the Gaza Strip, he added:
Are we going to crawl through tunnels and retrieve the last Kalashnikovs?
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Summary
Here’s a recap of the latest news after Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli security cabinet had approved a plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The decision – early on Friday during a marathon meeting – came after the Israeli prime minister said Israel intended to take full control of Gaza and eventually hand it over to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
It is thought that the security cabinet’s decision to take over Gaza City as opposed to the entire territory could reflect the reservations of Israel’s top military officials.
In key developments:
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the security cabinet’s Gaza City decision as “a disaster that will lead to many more disasters” and said far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich had dragged Benjamin Netanyahu into something that was “exactly what Hamas wanted”. Lapid said the decision would lead to the deaths of more hostages and many soldiers as well as “political collapse”.
In announcing the Gaza City takeover plan, Netanyahu’s office referred to another plan submitted to the Israeli security cabinet but said most of the ministers believed it “would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages”. Israeli media reported that this appeared to be referring to a proposal presented by Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
Hamas said in a statement that “Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda”. And in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments on taking over Gaza, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
Hundreds of demonstrators outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening protested against any expansion of the war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all hostages.
Before the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu was asked on Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza” and he replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” He also said: “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had been hoping to obtain approval for fully controlling Gaza at the security cabinet meeting. The plan would have meant sending ground troops into the few areas of the strip that have not been totally destroyed – roughly 25% of the territory where many of its 2 million people have sought refuge.
Israel was reportedly preparing a two-phase operation aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, with plans to evacuate about 1 million residents – half of Gaza’s population – in what officials described as a temporary measure to establish civilian infrastructure in central Gaza.
At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Of the 42, 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.
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Former Palestine national team player Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele”, has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip, the sport’s local governing body said.
Obeid, 41, was killed when Israeli forces “targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip” on Wednesday, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said.
Agence France-Presse reports that Obeid – an ex-star of the Khadamat Al-Shati club in Gaza – played 24 international matches for team Palestine, the PFA said.
During his long career, Al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football.
The midfielder also played for the Al-Amari youth centre club in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
While living there in 2010, Obeid was among six players on the national team from Gaza who were turned back at the Jordanian border for “security reasons” on their way to a friendly match in Mauritania. An Israeli security official said at the time that the players had failed to renew special permits allowing them to play in the West Bank.
Obeid told AFP in 2010:
When I heard that we would be forbidden from travelling I was very upset, because any athlete dreams of wearing his national jersey in international forums.
We want to be able to travel freely with our families, just like athletes anywhere else in the world.
Another major Israeli ground operation will almost certainly lead to the killing of more Israeli soldiers in hit-and-run attacks, eroding domestic support for the war, and could endanger the remaining hostages, as the AP reports.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in the October 2023 attack and abducted 251 hostages, most of whom since been released in ceasefires or other deals. Fifty remain in the territory, around 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive.
Palestinian militants have released videos in recent days showing emaciated hostages, saying they are suffering the same starvation as the Palestinian population.
Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in tunnels and other secret locations and has hinted it will kill them if Israeli forces draw near.
Former security officials have also spoken out against further military operations, saying there is little to gain after Hamas has been militarily decimated.
Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, reportedly argued during the security cabinet meeting that a more sweeping plan to retake all of Gaza would endanger the hostages and put added strain on the army after two years of regional wars.
Yair Lapid calls Gaza City takeover decision 'a disaster'
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has blasted the security cabinet’s Gaza City decision as “a disaster” and said far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich dragged the Israeli prime minister into something that was “exactly what Hamas wanted”.
Lapid also said the decision would lead to the deaths of more hostages and many soldiers as well as “political collapse”.
His post on X reads in full (in a translation):
The cabinet’s decision tonight is a disaster that will lead to many more disasters.
In complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks, without considering the erosion and exhaustion of the fighting forces, Ben Gvir and Smotrich dragged Netanyahu into a move that will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse.
This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading.
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The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said extending the war in Gaza would only lead to more deaths and that occupying Gaza would be a “huge mistake”.
Simon Walters was quoted by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper as saying on Thursday:
The IDF has achieved all that it can achieve in Gaza, and extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths. Deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, deaths of hostages.
If you want to defeat Hamas, you cannot achieve that through military force. You need to use politics and diplomacy and you need to give the people of Gaza an alternative to Hamas.
Walters said the UK’s approach to the ceasefire proposal set forth by US special envoy Steve Witkoff – for one full and comprehensive deal that brings back all hostages – would end the war and initiate a new governing body for the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reported.
Walters said:
We are working with friends, allies in Europe and in the Middle East to generate a real plan for what happens after the fighting stops, after the war.
It needs to be a description of what the governments will be for Gaza. That has to be governance by Palestinians who are not members of Hamas with a role for the Palestinian Authority.
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Looking at Gaza City – which Israel’s security cabinet has earmarked for a military takeover – much of it is in ruins.
Israel has repeatedly bombarded the city in northern Gaza and it launched major ground operations there within weeks of Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war. Several neighbourhoods and key infrastructure are almost completely destroyed.
The Associated Press reports that on the eve of the war it was Gaza’s most populous city, home to about 700,000 people. Hundreds of thousands fled under Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year.
Israel already controls and has largely destroyed around 75% of Gaza, with most of the population of some 2 million Palestinians now sheltering in Gaza City, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the sprawling displacement camps in the Muwasi area along the coast.
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Australian foreign minister Penny Wong has urged Israel not to follow through on its plans to occupy Gaza, a step she said could constitute a breach of international law.
After Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israel Defense Forces would prepare to take over Gaza City, Wong pushed back on the plan, telling the Guardian:
Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law.
Wong said Australia and international partners were maintaining ongoing calls for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and aid to flow unimpeded.
A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace – a Palestinian state and the state of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally-recognised borders.
Israeli media reports disagreement between Netanyahu and top military official
In announcing the approval of plans to take over Gaza City, the office of Benjamin Netanyahu referred to another plan that had been submitted to the Israeli security cabinet.
A decisive majority of security cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the security cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.
Israeli media reported that this appeared to be referring to a proposal presented by IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
It’s thought that the announcement from the security cabinet to take over Gaza City as opposed to the entire territory – as Netanyahu pledged on Thursday – could reflect the reservations of Israel’s top military officials.
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After nearly two years of war in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce deal to pull the Palestinian territory’s more than 2 million people back from the brink of famine and to spare hostages held by Palestinian militants.
Outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, hundreds of demonstrators protested against any expansion of the war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all 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.
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Indonesia will convert a medical facility on an uninhabited island to treat about 2,000 wounded residents of Gaza, according to a spokesperson for the president, reports Kate Lamb and agencies.
“Indonesia will give medical help for about 2,000 Gaza residents who became victims of war, those who are wounded, buried under debris,” Hasan Nasbi said in Jakarta on Thursday.
Indonesia plans to allocate the facility on Galang island, home to a former refugee camp for Vietnamese asylum seekers which lies off its island of Sumatra, to treat the wounded Gaza residents and temporarily shelter their families, the spokesperson said.
The patients would be taken back to Gaza after they had healed, he added, without providing further details on the timing of the plan, or how their return would be guaranteed.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza during the war and the announcement follows an Axios report in July that the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency had sought US help in convincing several countries – including Indonesia, Libya and Ethiopia – to take in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza.
See the full report here:
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The Axios reporter Barak Ravid has cited an Israeli official as saying Israel’s occupation of Gaza City is to involve besieging Hamas fighters there while carrying out a ground offensive.
Ravid’s post on X says:
Senior Israeli official tells me: The operation that the IDF is currently preparing for is only in Gaza City. The goal is to evacuate all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by October 7. A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City. The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister have been authorized to approve the IDF’s final operational plan
The Israeli prime minister’s office also said the “vast majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented in the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages”.
Netanyahu’s office said on X that the security cabinet voted by a majority to adopt what he called “the five principles for ending the war”. It listed them as (translated from Hebrew):
1. Disarming Hamas of its weapons.
2. Return of all hostages – both the living and the deceased.
3. Demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
4. Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip.
5. Establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
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Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said on social media that the Israel Defense Forces will prepare to take over Gaza City and to provide aid to civilians outside the areas of fighting.
The full post on X (translated from Hebrew) reads:
The Political-Security Cabinet approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for the defeat of Hamas.
The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.
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Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City after he earlier said the country intended to take full control of the entire Gaza Strip.
The decision early on Friday marks another escalation of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu said Israel planned to retake control over the whole territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel’s top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel’s army after nearly two years of regional wars, the Associated Press reports.
Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones.
A Hamas official was reported as telling the Al Jazeera Mubasher television network that the militant group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza per Netanyahu’s suggestion as an “occupying” force linked the Israel. And in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
In key developments:
Before the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu was asked on Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza” and he replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” The Israeli prime minister said: “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was hoping to obtain approval for fully controlling Gaza at the security cabinet meeting. The plan would mean sending ground troops into the few areas of the strip that have not been totally destroyed – roughly 25% of the territory where many of its 2 million people have sought refuge.
Israel was reportedly preparing a two-phase operation aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, with plans to evacuate about 1 million residents – half of Gaza’s population – in what officials described as a temporary measure to establish civilian infrastructure in central Gaza.
The proposal was being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation, according to Israel’s Channel 12. The chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Of the 42, 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.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that 99 people were known to have died from malnutrition in Gaza this year and the figure was probably an underestimate, amid famine warnings from UN agencies.
The families of the roughly 20 remaining living hostages held in Gaza have called for Israelis to protest against the government and a decision they fear would endanger the lives of their loved ones.
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