Israel's Gaza City takeover plan draws condemnation – DW – 08/08/2025
"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," it said in a statement.
Separately, China expressed "serious concerns" over Israel's decision.
"Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
"The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire," the spokesperson 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."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Israel's plan "for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted."
Israel's Security Cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, where half of the Palestinian territory's population lives, but stopped short of referring to a full occupation of the Gaza Strip.
Israel is estimated to already be in control of 75% of the Gaza Strip. Israeli media reports have suggested that the military would move toward taking over the remaining parts of the enclave.
Türk said that the plan "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 realization of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination."
He called on Israel to instead allow "the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid."
Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages, and Israel likewise should free "Palestinians arbitrarily detained," Türk added.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Israel should de-escalate rather than expand its operations to take control of Gaza City.
"The Israeli Government's decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately," he said in a statement.
"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."
Starmer called for "a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution."
His remarks come as the UK seeks to pressure Israel to move toward a long-term peace process. Starmer had vowed to recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank and agrees to a ceasefire over the next two months.
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Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, criticized the Security Cabinet's backing of the takeover of Gaza City.
Lapid said the move was "a disaster that will lead to many more disasters" and was made in "complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks."
"This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be mired on the ground with no purpose, without defining the day after picture, in a pointless occupation that no one understands where it is leading," he said on X.
Military officials had urged avoiding getting entangled in any operations in Gaza City, as the region is considered dangerous for soldiers and, potentially, Israeli hostages held there.
Australia has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take over Gaza after he said that he intends to expand the military offensive in the Gaza Strip and take military control.
"Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday.
In her statement, Wong said that permanent forced displacement was a violation of International law.
She reiterated that "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-recognized borders."
Middle East reporter Barak Ravid, who works for US news site Axios among others, was one of the first to break the news of the Israeli Security Council decision.
In a post on X, he gave more of an idea of Israel's plans and said an Israeli official confirmed that the military was only preparing to take over Gaza City.
"The goal is to evacuate all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by October 7," Ravid wrote.
"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."
Located on the coast of the Mediterranean in Gaza's north, Gaza City is among the most important cities in the territory.
Before the war, nearly 800,000 people lived in Gaza City. It is difficult now to get a proper estimate of its population.
Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City.
The decision taken early Friday local time marks another escalation of Israel's 22-month offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the October 7, 2023, attacks by the Hamas militant group.
Israel will provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside of combat zones, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
According to a majority of Security Cabinet members backed five conditions for ending the war:
1. The disarmament of Hamas
2. The return of all 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive
3. The demilitarization of the Gaza Strip
4. Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip
5. The existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said an operation with the Lebanese military has led to the discovery of several bunkers in southern Lebanon.
Artillery pieces, rocket launchers, hundreds of grenades and missiles, anti-tank mines and other explosives were also found, the UNIFIL said.
It comes as sporadic cross-border fighting between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah continues despite a ceasefire that was agreed in November.
Lebanese state-run media reported on Thursday that an Israeli strike on the country's east killed at least five people.
Lebanon is moving to disarm the Iran-backed group and bring all its weapons under state control.
On Thursday, US envoy Tom Barrack congratulated Lebanese leaders "for making the historic, bold, and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing" the November ceasefire.
"This week's Cabinet resolutions finally put into motion the 'One Nation, One Army' solution for Lebanon. We stand behind the Lebanese people," Barrack said.
Protesters have taken to the streets across Israel to show support for the hostages' families and demonstrate against the government's plans to expand the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The demonstrations have taken place as Israel's Security Cabinet meets to discuss the plan for the complete takeover of the enclave, a move many believe would put the hostages still held by Palestinian militant group Hamas at risk.
Fifty hostages are still being held by the group and other groups, with some 20 of them still believed to be alive.
Videos of two hostages were recently released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in which the hostages looked gaunt, with one of them digging what he said would be his own grave.
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The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to take over Gaza would be detrimental to hopes for a truce.
The group said Netanyahu's latest remarks on Gaza mark "a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and clearly reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round, despite our close proximity to a final agreement."
Hamas also accused Netanyahu of seeking "to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda."
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip have launched a protest flotilla from the coastal city of Ashkelon, 21 kilometers (13 miles) away from the Palestinian enclave, for a symbolic trip.
The families said they were seeking to send messages of support to their loved ones and draw attention to their suffering.
They are sailing south "to get as close as possible" to the captives, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X.
The trip of Shayetet 50 (Flotilla 50), in reference to the 50 hostages still held captive in Gaza, is set to take around two hours to a point near the besieged enclave.
The families of the captives have criticized a reported Israeli government plan to take over Gaza entirely, saying it would put the hostages' lives in greater danger.
Israeli media outlets have reported that the army would need around five months to take full control of the Gaza Strip.
Israel is estimated to already be in control of around 75% of the Palestinian enclave. The plan to expand the Israeli operations in Gaza is reportedly aimed at destroying Hamas and returning the remaining Israeli hostages.
According to Israeli TV channel N12, the plan suggested by Netanyahu starts with evacuation orders to the residents of Gaza City, where up to 1 million people live. The initial objective is the occupation of the city to allow the Israeli army to reach the central camps where they say Hamas is still operating, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army is suggesting a different plan: encircling Gaza City and the central camps and applying "significant fire" to prepare the territory for the entrance of soldiers, according to the report.
That would be followed by excursions of soldiers to exhaust Hamas forces while avoiding getting entangled in any operations in Gaza City, a region considered dangerous for soldiers and, potentially, Israeli hostages held there.
Kan News reported, citing unnamed security sources, that the goal is to push Gaza's population to the south, which would in turn also serve the "voluntary migration" plan pushed by the Israeli government for as many Palestinians as possible to leave Gaza and migrate to different countries.
Aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has published a report condemning "systemic violence against civilians" at sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The report is titled: "This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing."
MSF said its patients in Gaza shared accounts of dehumanization and targeted violence at GHF distribution centers.
According to the report, 1,380 victims arrived from GHF centers at two MSF clinics between June 7 and July 24 — 28 of them were already dead.
"In MSF's nearly 54 years of operation, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians," said Raquel Ayora, MSF general director.
MSF called for the immediate cessation of the GHF distribution mechanism.
Israel introduced the GHF in May, two months after a total blockade on Gaza that it said was to prevent Hamas from stealing aid.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said 99 people are believed to have died from malnutrition in Gaza this year, adding that the figure was likely an underestimate.
"Malnutrition is widespread and hunger-related deaths are rising," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
People in Gaza "have limited access to basic services, have faced repeated displacement and are now suffering from a blockade of food supplies," Tedros told the UN correspondents' association ACANU.
Tedros also said the number of children suffering from malnutrition was rising.
"In July, nearly 12,000 children under 5 years were identified as suffering from acute malnutrition — the highest monthly figure ever recorded," he added.
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