Israel prepares to storm Gaza City, triggering forced displacement amid starvation

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza and the Middle East concludes for today.

Join us again at 0900 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.
 

The foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli Security Cabinet’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza.

"The plans that the Government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law," the ministers said in a joint statement.

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City, escalating military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory. The move drew renewed criticism at home and abroad on Friday, as concerns mounted over the nearly two-year-old war. 

Palestine’s UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, has condemned Israel’s plan for a military takeover of Gaza.

Mansour called on the international community to intervene to prevent Israel from carrying out its announced takeover of Gaza City and the wider Gaza Strip.

“This escalation by the Israeli government is going in total contradiction to the will of the international community, international law and common sense,” Mansour said.

He also noted that opinion polls suggest the plans are opposed by many within Israel itself.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated on X that "Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, neither the Palestinian Authority, nor Hamas, nor any other terrorist organisation."

His remarks follow the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of a plan for the military takeover of Gaza City, shortly after Netanyahu declared Israel’s aim for complete military control of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also posted on X, saying, "the army is already preparing today for the full implementation of these decisions" regarding the plan.

Israeli security officials have expressed strong opposition to Netanyahu’s escalation plans, either through public statements or press leaks.

In response to international criticism, Katz said, "Countries around the world that condemn or threaten to impose sanctions will not weaken our resolve."

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has urged that food supplies currently stockpiled in Jordan be allowed into Gaza, without directly naming Israel.

“The stock of humanitarian aid in Jordan includes food items like flour, rice, legumes, canned meat and fish,” the agency stated on X.

“Let UNRWA bring this aid in. Let us distribute it to the people in need across the Gaza Strip.”

Israel continues to block the majority of humanitarian aid deliveries to Palestinians in Gaza, worsening a starvation crisis that has claimed over 200 lives since October 2023, including many in recent weeks.

The stock of humanitarian aid in Jordan includes food items like flour, rice, legumes, canned meat and fish.

All this food is waiting to be allowed into #Gaza.

Let UNRWA bring this aid in. Let us distribute it to the people in need across the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/B3QvC9EXxO

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 8, 2025

US Senator Bernie Sanders has criticised both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump for their backing of Israel’s military campaign against Palestinians in Gaza.

Despite growing opposition within his own Democratic Party and calls to halt US military aid to Israel, Biden has expressed unequivocal support for the campaign. Trump has continued this policy since leaving office in January.

Sanders wrote on X: “The American people – Democrats, Republicans, Independents – do not want to continue spending billions of taxpayer dollars to starve children. Not another penny for Netanyahu’s war machine.”

He has repeatedly introduced US Senate resolutions aimed at suspending weapons sales to Israel, though these efforts have not succeeded.

Biden was wrong about his support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Trump is even worse. The American people - Democrats, Republicans, Independents - do not want to continue spending billions of taxpayer dollars to starve children.

Not another penny for Netanyahu's war machine.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 8, 2025

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said it had shelled a group of Israeli soldiers who had entered the area near Al-Awda School, east of Khan Yunis, using standard 60mm mortar rounds, according to al-Araby al-Jadeed, the Arabic-language sister outlet of The New Arab.

Iran's foreign ministry on Friday condemned Israel's updated war plan that includes taking control of Gaza City, accusing Israel of seeking to "ethnically cleanse" the Palestinian territory.

The plan announced by Israel "is another clear sign of the Zionist regime's specific intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza and commit genocide against the Palestinians", Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement.

For US President Donald Trump, it's up to Israel to decide what to do next in Gaza -- meaning Washington is offering quiet support for its ally's plans to expand the offensive in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.

While numerous European and Arab capitals urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to reconsider his decision to "take control" of Gaza City, Trump this week has effectively given the Israeli prime minister free rein -- even if it means pushback from the international community.

After nearly two years of devastating conflict, Israel's security cabinet approved Netanyahu's plan to "defeat" Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.

Before Israel's announcement, when asked if he could support such a plan, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was focused on securing an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to help starving Palestinians.

"As far as the rest of it, I really, I really can't say -- that's going to be pretty much up to Israel," Trump said.

Then on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, telling Catholic TV network EWTN, "Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel's security will be determined by Israel."

Trump and Rubio's comments speak volumes about the US strategy: since Israel-Hamas talks on a ceasefire in Gaza fell apart, Washington has broadly embraced Israel's views following US envoy Steve Witkoff's visit last week.

Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City is "wrong" and will put the lives of the remaining hostages at greater risk, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Friday. 

Iranian state media reported that authorities on Friday returned a group of inmates to Evin prison, which Israel targeted during an airstrike in June.

A report by the official IRNA news agency said that authorities returned the first group of prisoners to Evin from another correction facility in Tehran, suggesting that further transfers will continue in the coming days.

The report didn't say how many prisoners were transferred or how many others are expected to be transferred to the jail. It said that new facilities were constructed at the site of prison to accommodate the inmates, adding that five prisoners resisted wearing handcuffs required by police to transfer them.

The report said they were eventually transferred “without any conflict and in peace.” It didn't elaborate.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, according to its scheduled released on Friday after Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, earlier on Friday 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 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT) on Saturday, the schedule says.

France condemned on Friday the Israeli government's plan to establish military control of Gaza City, warning it would lead to deadlock in efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

"Such actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and lead to a complete dead end," the foreign ministry said in a statement posted to social media.

"They would undermine the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians to live in peace within a viable, sovereign and contiguous state, and pose a threat to regional stability."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed on Friday a German decision to halt arms exports over the Gaza war, saying the move would bolster Palestinian group Hamas.

"Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," said a statement from Netanyahu's office, which added that the Israeli premier expressed his "disappointment" in a call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

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.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said his country has no plan to recognise a Palestinian state, an issue he plans to discuss with British Foreign Minister David Lammy in a meeting on Friday.

"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 a functional government there," Vance told reporters.

He added that President Donald Trump "has been very clear about his goals, about what he wants to accomplish in the Middle East, and he's going to keep on doing that."

Vance is meeting Lammy at Chevening House, the country residence in southern England used by the foreign minister, at the start of a trip to Britain with his family.

Israel's war in Gaza has killed 61,330 people since October 2023, and injured more than 152,000 others, Gaza's health ministry said Friday.

The ministry said 72 people were killed and 314 wounded over the past 24 hours.

It added that 201 people have died from hunger-related causes in the territory, among them 98 children, amid Israel's restriction of aid.

European Council chief Antonio Costa on Friday criticised Israel's plan to take over Gaza City, warning "such a decision must have consequences" for EU-Israel ties.

"I strongly urge the Israeli government to reconsider its decision," Costa, who heads the body representing the bloc's 27 states, wrote on X. "The situation in Gaza remains dramatic, and the decision by the Israeli government will only further worsen it."

British foreign minister David Lammy said on Friday he would discuss the situation in Gaza during a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance.

Speaking alongside Vance, who is on a trip to Britain with his family, he also said UK-US relations were in a "wonderful place."

The United States mission to the United Arab Emirates said on Friday it was aware of information indicating threats towards the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE.

On July 31, Israel's National Security Headquarters upgraded its travel warning for Israelis in the Gulf country, saying: "terrorist organizations are operating with increased intensity these days in efforts to harm Israel."

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.

Saudi Arabia on Friday rejected Israel's plan to take over Gaza city, lambasting it for the "starvation" and "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians in the blockaded territory.

Riyadh said it "condemns in the strongest and most forceful terms the decision of the Israeli occupation authorities to occupy the Gaza Strip", in a foreign ministry statement on X.

It added that it "categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people".

Nations around the world expressed concern Friday over Israel's plan to occupy Gaza City, saying it would only worsen the conflict and lead to more bloodshed.

• UK

"This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

• China 

"Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory," a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.

• Germany

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the Israeli military plan would help achieve legitimate aims.

• Turkey 

"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," said a foreign ministry statement.

• Spain

"We firmly condemn the decision of the Israeli government to escalate the military occupation of Gaza," said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares. "It will only cause more destruction and suffering."

• Belgium

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on X that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned to express "our total disapproval of this decision".

Israel's military will to "take control" of Gaza City under a new plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, sparked a wave of sharp criticism on Friday from both inside and outside the country.

 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced his country was halting military shipments to Israel, saying it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the new plan would help achieve legitimate aims.

"Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he said.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the cabinet's move as "a disaster that will lead to many other disasters".

He warned on X that it would result in "the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost Israeli taxpayers tens of billions, and lead to diplomatic bankruptcy".

Israel's decision to intensify its military operation in Gaza is wrong and should immediately be reversed, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told Denmark's TV2 on Friday.

Israel's political-security cabinet approved a plan early on Friday to take control of Gaza City, a move expanding military operations despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that Israel must reconsider its plan to take control of Gaza City.

"The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered," she wrote on X.

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 Friday.

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, the group said in a statement.

Senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned in a post on social media the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein. "We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom," Abdel-Al wrote.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10, without identifying the victims.

#توثيق لقصف طيران الاحتلال مركبة بمحيط نقطة المصنع قرب دير زنون، في سهل البقاع شرق لبنان. pic.twitter.com/WuLDyVJ53V

— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) August 7, 2025

Israel's plan to intensify operations in Gaza is "a wrong move", Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said on Friday.

"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," Veldkamp said in a statement on X.

Belgium's foreign minister on Friday summoned the Israeli ambassador citing Israel's announced plan to occupy Gaza City and take military control of the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the ministry said Belgium wanted to "express (its) total disapproval of this decision, but also of the continued colonization ... and the desire to annex the West Bank," adding that it will "vigorously advocate" for a reversal of this decision.

"Following the official confirmation by the Israeli government of its intention to encircle and then occupy Gaza City and take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has decided to summon the Israeli Ambassador," it said.

Hamas warned the Israeli government on Friday that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to "sacrificing" the captives still being held in the Palestinian territory.

"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," the group said in a statement.

"They understand that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them."

Iraqi authorities denied on Friday that the country had played any part in Iranian efforts to evade US sanctions on oil exports after Washington last month linked a local businessman to the practice.

In early July, the US State Department sanctioned six entities and identified four vessels as having "knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing" of Iranian petroleum products. Among the sanctioned entities was a network of companies run by Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said accused of having "profited from smuggling Iranian oil disguised as, or blended with, Iraqi oil".

On Friday, the director of Iraq's state oil marketing company SOMO denied any Iraqi role in such sanctions evasion.

"There are no smuggling or (petroleum) blending operations at Iraqi ports or in its territorial waters," Ali Nizar told the official INA press agency.

"It is totally false to speak of the existence of sites allowing the smuggling of Iraqi oil and mixture with oil from neighbouring countries."

Turkey's foreign minister will travel to Egypt on Saturday for talks with senior officials on Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City and on the humanitarian situation there, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Friday.

NATO member Turkey condemned the plan of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "fundamentalist government", and urged world powers and the United Nations Security Council to act to prevent its implementation.

During his visit to Cairo, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other officials to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues, including the Gaza ceasefire negotiations - mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States - as well as Israel's takeover plan, the source said.

Fidan will "evaluate joint efforts to end the genocide in Gaza and allow the unhindered access of humanitarian aid into Gaza, emphasise that the occupying Israel's actions targeting a two-state solution and its latest steps toward the annexation of Gaza are the biggest obstacle to regional peace and stability," the source said.

A Jordanian official told Reuters on Thursday that Arabs "will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on" after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel wanted to hand over Gaza to Arab forces that would govern it.

"Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions," the source said.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.

The Israeli leader made the comments to Fox News shortly before a meeting he was due to have on Thursday with a small group of senior ministers to discuss plans for the military to take control of more territory in Gaza

"Arabs will not be agreeing to Netanyahu's policies nor clean his mess," the Jordanian official said in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu's comments.

The Palestinian presidency says it will take Israel’s decision to fully occupy the Gaza Strip straight to the UN Security Council, calling for urgent global action to halt what it describes as crimes of genocide, forced displacement and starvation.

In a strongly worded statement on Friday, Ramallah rejected the Israeli security cabinet’s plan to reoccupy all of Gaza and forcibly move around one million people from Gaza City and the north to the south. It urged emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to build a unified international response, and appealed directly to US President Donald Trump to intervene and instead push for a permanent peace.

The presidency warned the move would trigger an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, adding to settlement expansion, land annexation, settler violence, religious site attacks and financial blockades in the West Bank. It reaffirmed that Palestinians will not accept imposed realities and remain committed to their right to self-determination and a state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

It also called on the UN, international agencies and the Red Cross to ensure immediate, unconditional entry of humanitarian aid and fuel to Gaza. The statement concluded that the only path to security and stability is a political solution that ends the occupation and restores Palestinian governance in Gaza as part of an independent state on the 1967 borders.

China expressed on Friday "serious concerns" 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 AFP in a message.

An Friday morning Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in south Lebanon killed a journalist.

The strike targeted the coastal highway connecting Ansariyeh to Tyre, killing Mohammad Shehadeh who ran the "Hawana Lubnan" news site.

Shehdah hailed from the nearby town of Adloun.

مراسل "ليبانون ديبايت": غارة من مسيرة إسرائيلية على طريق بلدة أنصارية pic.twitter.com/HAwQhvu68p

— Lebanon Debate (@lebanondebate) August 8, 2025

Turkey on Friday 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.

Australia has urged Israel "not to go down this path", after Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of Gaza.

"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.

Wong said permanent forced displacement was a violation of international law and repeated calls for a ceasefire, aid to flow unimpeded and for militant group Hamas to return the hostages taken in October 2023.

"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," she added.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Friday said that "the Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted".

"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," he said in a statement.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday asked Israel to reconsider its plan to take control of Gaza City, which he branded as "wrong."

"This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages," he said, warning that it "will only bring more bloodshed".

In his statement on Friday, Starmer said Israel's "decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately".

"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."

Starmed noted that the UK and its allies "are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution".

"But without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes," he added.

"Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction."

Far-right Israeli protesters stopped trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza for several hours on Thursday at the Allenby Bridge, known in Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge, which links Jordan to the occupied West Bank.

Footage posted online showed the group blocking Jordanian trucks loaded with essential supplies for Palestinians in Gaza, claiming the aid was "the oxygen of Hamas in the fight against our soldiers."

Such protests have become a regular tactic, with far-right activists repeatedly obstructing aid convoys bound for Gaza. 

The territory is facing a severe starvation crisis under Israel’s blockade, which has already led to nearly 200 deaths from starvation. 

Hamas has vowed to continue "resistance" against Israel after Netanyahu announced he had intended to take control of the Gaza Strip before handing it over to Arab forces.

In a statement on Thursday, the group said Netanyahu’s comments marked "a clear reversal of the course of negotiations" aimed at reaching a ceasefire.

Hamas accused him of “seeking to get rid of the hostages and sacrifice them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agendas”.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said Netanyahu "neither cares about the lives of his soldiers and officers who are exhausted by war and are on the verge of collapse, nor does he care about the lives of the starving people in Gaza."

A source close to Hamas described the Israeli move as "a bargaining chip to push for concessions" during truce talks.