Gaza latest: Israeli cabinet weighs full takeover of Gaza as Hamas claims Netanyahu is ‘sacrificing' hostages
Mr Netanyahu told Fox News' Bill Hemmer that he intends for Israel to take control of the entire Gaza strip, to destroy Hamas, in a significant expansion of the war effort.
"We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza."
He said he would pass responsibility for governing the enclave to Arab forces.
In response, Hamas that Mr Netanyahu's statements 'confirm that he seeks to get rid of his prisoners and sacrifice them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agendas.'
They warned warned that any expansion would 'not be a walk in the park, and the price will be heavy and costly for the occupation…'
An Israeli official told AP that the cabinet expected to hold a lengthy debate and approve an expanded military plan.
Watch: An Israeli flag displaying photos of the hostages being held up outside the Cabinet meeting
Bryony Gooch8 August 2025 03:00
Recap: Trump says decision whether to occupy Gaza is 'up to Israel'
Trump says decision whether to occupy Gaza is 'up to Israel'
The US president declined to support or oppose potential expansion of Israel's devastating military offensive in the enclave
Bryony Gooch8 August 2025 02:00
Watch: The human toll of Israel's pager attack
Bryony Gooch8 August 2025 01:00
'Apocalyptic' pictures of Gaza's devastation echo the destruction of the Hiroshima bomb 80 years on
Bleak pictures of Gaza's devastation echo destruction of Hiroshima bomb 80 years on
Palestinians have been represented for the first time at a memorial for the bomb dropped on Japan, amid warnings the world has not learned the lessons from 80 years ago. Alex Croft reports
Bryony Gooch8 August 2025 00:00
Recap: How much of Gaza does the Israeli military actually control?
The Israeli military says it controls about 75 per cent of Gaza, as prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu pushes for a full military occupation of the Strip.
Most of Gaza's population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months and aid groups are warning that the enclave's residents are on the verge of famine.
Some far-right allies in his government have long advocated a full occupation of Gaza and for Israel to re-establish settlements there, two decades after it withdrew.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told reporters Wednesday that he hoped the government would approve the military taking control over the rest of Gaza.
Bryony Gooch7 August 2025 23:00
Watch: An Israeli flag displaying photos of the hostages being held up outside the Cabinet meeting
Bryony Gooch7 August 2025 22:00
Pictured: The sun setting over Gaza
7 August 2025 21:45
12,000 children under five in Gaza suffering acute malnutrition - WHO
Around 12,000 children aged under five in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition, and hunger-related deaths are rising, the Director General of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
"In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at his organisation's headquarters in Geneva.
At least 99 people have died, including 64 adults and 35 children, of whom 29 were younger than five, from the start of this year to July 29.
Between June and July, the number of admissions for malnutrition almost doubled - from 6,344 to 11,877 - according to the latest UNICEF figures available.
Some 2,500 of those children are suffering from severe malnutrition.
Bryony Gooch7 August 2025 21:30
Watch: Netanyahu says Israel will take control of all of Gaza
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Reuters
a few seconds ago
- Reuters
US and Russia plan truce that would cement Putin's gains in Ukraine, Bloomberg reports
Aug 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. and Russia are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Moscow's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. U.S. and Russian officials are working towards an agreement for a planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. A White House official said the Bloomberg story was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Addressing reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump suggested an agreement would involve some exchange of land. "There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," Trump said. The president said details on the summit with Putin would be released as soon as Friday. "I'll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner, but I guess there are security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make," Trump said. There was no immediate comment on the report from Ukrainian authorities. However, in a statement published after the report that did not refer to it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "The United States is determined to achieve a ceasefire, and we must jointly support all constructive steps. A dignified, reliable, and lasting peace can only be the result of our joint efforts," he said. In his evening address to the nation, Zelenskiy said it was possible to achieve a ceasefire as long as adequate pressure was applied to Russia. He said he had held more than a dozen conversations with leaders of different countries and his team was in constant contact with the United States. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Ukraine has previously signalled a willingness to be flexible in the search for an end to a war that has ravaged its towns and cities and killed large numbers of its soldiers and citizens. But accepting the loss of around a fifth of Ukraine's territory would be painful and politically challenging for Zelenskiy and his government. Tyson Barker, the U.S. State Department's former deputy special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery, said the proposal, as outlined by Bloomberg, would be immediately rejected by the Ukrainians. "The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections and their conditions for a negotiated settlement, while demonstrating their gratitude for American support," said Barker, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. Under the putative deal, according to Bloomberg, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines. Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war. In his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin. In a sign of his growing frustration with Putin's refusal to halt Russia's military offensive, Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs from Friday against Moscow and countries that buy its exports unless the Russian leader agreed to end the 3-1/2 year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. But with the Putin-Trump summit expected in the coming days, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, it is unclear whether those sanctions will take effect or will be delayed or cancelled. The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow's oil customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump's second term. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelenskiy. "There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away," Tusk told a news conference. "There are hopes for this." Tusk also said Zelenskiy was "very cautious but optimistic" and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement.
South Wales Argus
2 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Trump says he will meet with Putin ‘very shortly' to discuss the war in Ukraine
'We're going to be announcing later, and we're going to have a meeting with Russia,' Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. Those comments came as Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war and Mr Trump's deadline arrived on Friday for the Kremlin to make peace. Exasperated that Mr Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Mr Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. President Donald Trump (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Mr Trump's efforts to pressure Mr Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russia's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line that snakes from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraine's northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. Russian president Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow is not interested in peace. 'It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them,' Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. 'I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them,' he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russia's invasion. 'We are on our land, we have no way out,' he said. 'So we stand our ground, we have no choice.' The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Mr Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Mr Xi 'expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis.' Mr Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russia's war effort, the US says. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russia's war. Mr Putin's calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said.
North Wales Chronicle
2 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Trump says he will meet with Putin ‘very shortly' to discuss the war in Ukraine
'We're going to be announcing later, and we're going to have a meeting with Russia,' Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. Those comments came as Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war and Mr Trump's deadline arrived on Friday for the Kremlin to make peace. Exasperated that Mr Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Mr Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. Mr Trump's efforts to pressure Mr Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russia's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line that snakes from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraine's northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow is not interested in peace. 'It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them,' Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. 'I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them,' he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russia's invasion. 'We are on our land, we have no way out,' he said. 'So we stand our ground, we have no choice.' The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Mr Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Mr Xi 'expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis.' Mr Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russia's war effort, the US says. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russia's war. Mr Putin's calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said.
