‘New crime': Palestinian Authority on Israel's escalation plan in Gaza
Early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans for a major operation to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of criticism from across the globe.
In the same meeting, it also adopted a set of principles for concluding the war in Gaza, including demilitarising the territory and establishing a new "administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority" (PA).
According a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, PA leader Abbas said the plan "constitutes a new crime", and stressed "the urgent need to take action to stop it immediately".
He also emphasised "the importance of enabling the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, and the need for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and detainees, and the entry of humanitarian assistance".
The PA -- conceived as a first step towards a Palestinian state -- exercises limited administration over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The territory is home to about three million Palestinians. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, it is also home to around half a million Israelis living in settlements considered illegal under international law.
The PA, however, does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades.
Despite the backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli top brass, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant over the decision.
In a post on social media late Friday, Netanyahu said "we are not going to occupy Gaza -- we are going to free Gaza from Hamas".
The prime minister faces mounting pressure to secure a ceasefire to bring Gaza's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants.
A statement issued on Saturday by the foreign ministers of Italy, Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom took aim at the decision to occupy Gaza City.
"This will exacerbate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of hostages, and increase the risk of a mass exodus of civilians," they said.
As supporters of the hostages again demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum put out a statement condemning the government's war plans.
"Expanding the fighting endangers the hostages and the soldiers - the people of Israel are not willing to risk them," it said.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the new plan was "an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability".
Israel's offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry, figures the United Nations says are reliable.
Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel -- which triggered the war -- resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
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