More Palestinians die of hunger as Israel pushes ahead with plan to seize Gaza City

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Thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, a day after the Israeli government vowed to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.

Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.

AFP journalists at the rally estimated the number of attendees to be in the tens of thousands, while a group representing the families of hostages said as many as 100,000 people participated.

Authorities did not provide an official estimate for the size of the crowd, though it dwarfed the ones at other recent anti-war rallies.

Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 37 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday, including 30 civilians who were waiting to collect aid.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 12 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they gathered near a border crossing in northern Gaza that has been used for aid deliveries.

Six more people were killed and 30 wounded after Israeli troops targeted civilians assembling near an aid point in central Gaza, he said.

Strikes in central Gaza also resulted in multiple casualties, according to Bassal, while a drone attack near the southern city of Khan Yunis killed at least three people and wounded several others.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence and the Israeli military.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers backed multiple settler raids in recent hours amid ongoing efforts to displace Palestinians.

In Qusra, southeast of Nablus, troops stormed the area firing tear gas and heavy gunfire, arresting two young brothers, Wafa news agency reported.

Soldiers also targeted Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah, to support settler attacks there. Tear gas was deployed in Qalandiya refugee camp and Kafr Aqab, north of occupied East Jerusalem, causing several cases of suffocation.

Two additional settler attacks were recorded in the Ramallah-area villages of Deir Jarir and Rammun.

Videos circulating online show aid packages being airdropped over Gaza at high speeds as desperate residents gather in hopes of receiving food.

One clip shows a package striking a person in the head. Another video, verified by Al Jazeera, captures the immediate aftermath of an aid box hitting a child near the Netzarim area in central Gaza. The child, identified by local media as Muhannad Zakaria Eid, was attempting to collect aid when the incident occurred.

Crowds are seen gathering around the boy’s bloodied body as some try to administer first aid. Later footage from local media shows his body in the hospital morgue, with his grieving father holding him.

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday lambasted the Israeli government's decision to expand its military operations in Gaza, with president Mahmud Abbas calling the plan a "new crime" and demanding his organisation take responsibility for the territory.

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"

Gaza’s Government Media Office has reported that at least 23 Palestinians have died and 124 others were wounded due to aid airdrops since the outbreak of the war.

The statement noted that many of the aid packages have fallen in areas under Israeli military control or in neighborhoods that Israeli forces have forcibly evacuated or destroyed. Palestinians approaching these drops face the risk of Israeli attacks.

The office also highlighted that some aid parcels landed in the sea, causing 13 Palestinians to drown while attempting to retrieve them.

“We have repeatedly warned against these inhumane methods and called for aid to enter safely and adequately through land crossings, especially food, infant formula, medicines, and medical supplies,” the statement added.

Israeli settlers have attacked a spring in the northern Jordan Valley, a vital water source where Palestinians bring their cattle to drink, according to Wafa.

The Palestinian news agency said settlers also entered Khirbet Samra, roaming among tents in an apparent attempt to intimidate families, including children.

In Khirbet Masoud, southwest of Jenin, settlers reportedly used bulldozers to uproot olive trees on Palestinian-owned land to expand an illegal pastoral outpost established in 2019.

Lebanon slammed what it called "flagrant and unacceptable interference" by Iran on Saturday after an adviser to the Islamic republic's supreme leader expressed opposition to the disarmament of its ally Hezbollah.

In a post on X, the foreign ministry said it "condemns the recent declarations by Mr. Ali Akbar Velayati... which constitute flagrant and unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon".

Police in London arrested at least 200 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws.

Organisers claimed only a "fraction" of the hundreds who turned out had been detained.

"That claim simply isn't true," the Met said in a statement, noting some of those there were onlookers or not visibly supporting Palestine Action.

"We are confident that anyone who came to Parliament Square today to hold a placard expressing support for Palestine Action was either arrested or is in the process of being arrested."

Arrest update: We have now made 200 arrests in Parliament Square this afternoon.

We're aware of comments made by protest organisers which include misinformation. We've responded to those below: pic.twitter.com/SC2MGdk3pP

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 9, 2025

Greece on Saturday joined EU countries in dropping food aid over Gaza, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

"This morning, two aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force dropped 8.5 tonnes of essential food supplies in areas of Gaza," Mitsotakis said on Facebook.

"The operation was organised in collaboration with countries from the European Union and the Middle East, aiming to support the basic needs of people in the afflicted region."

"Greece will continue to undertake initiatives for the immediate cessation of hostilities, the release of hostages, and the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. It is the duty of all of us to put an end to human suffering immediately," he said.

Russia condemns and rejects Israel's plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The implementation of such decisions and plans, which provoke condemnation and rejection, is fraught with the risk of exacerbating the already extremely dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe," the ministry said in a statement.

At least six members of the Lebanese army were killed on Saturday in an explosion caused by "remnants of the Israeli war" in Tyre, southern Lebanon, security sources told Reuters.

Iran opposes the Lebanese government's decision to disarm Tehran-backed group Hezbollah, a senior adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Saturday, the Tasnim news agency reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is certainly opposed to the disarmament of Hezbollah," international affairs adviser Ali Akbar Velayati said. "Iran has always supported the people and the resistance of Lebanon and continues to do so."

More than 150 people protesting against Britain's decision to ban the Palestine Action group were arrested outside parliament on Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.

The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.

Arrest update: We’ve now arrested 150 people in Parliament Square.

While many of those remaining in the Square are media and onlookers, there are still people holding placards supporting Palestine Action.

Officers are steadily working through the crowd making further arrests. pic.twitter.com/k5xDIWKQQY

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 9, 2025

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday lambasted the Israeli government's decision to expand its military operations in Gaza, as it called on the international community to push for the entry of aid into the strip.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the PA's presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the Israeli government's moves were "an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability".

He also called on the "international community, led by the UN Security Council, to urgently compel the occupying state to cease its aggression, allow the entry of aid, and work diligently to enable the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip", reported Wafa.

At least eleven Palestinians have died from starvation and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, medical sources told Wafa.

Now 212 Palestinians, including 98 children, have died from starvation-related deaths as Israel continues to block lifesaving aid into the Gaza Strip.

Five Lebanese soldiers were killed on Saturday in a blast while removing munitions from a Hezbollah military facility in south Lebanon, a military source told AFP.

"Five soldiers were killed in an explosion... inside a Hezbollah military facility," the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to brief the media, adding that the incident took place as the troops were "removing munitions and unexploded ordnance left over from the recent war" on Lebanon.

The army did not immediately issue a statement, but President Joseph Aoun said he spoke to army commander Rodolphe Haykal about a "painful incident" that led to a number of dead and wounded from the army as a result of a munitions explosion as an engineering unit "was working to remove and disable" the ordnance, a presidency statement said.

Syria will not take part in planned meetings with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Paris, Syria's state news agency (SANA) quoted a government source as saying on Saturday, casting doubt over an integration deal signed by the two sides in March.

The source was responding to a forum hosted by the Kurdish-led group which governs northeast Syria on Friday in which it called for the review of the constitutional declaration issued earlier this year by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Participants also criticised the country's Islamist-led government over sectarian clashes in Syria's southern Druze-majority province of Suweida and the Alawite-majority coastal region.

The source told SANA that the forum resembled an attempt to present proposals that were contrary to the March agreement and that the Syrian government would not attend planned meetings in Paris with the group. The report gave no further details of the meetings, which had not been previously announced.

Muslim nations must work in total unison and work to mobilise the international community against Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday after talks in Egypt.

Speaking at a joint press conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Fidan also said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting.

Several Arab and Muslim countries on Saturday condemned as a "dangerous escalation" Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City.

Some 20 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, said the plan constituted "a flagrant violation of international law, and an attempt to entrench the illegal occupation and impose a fait accompli... in contravention of international legitimacy".

Iran has arrested 20 people it alleges are operatives of Israel's Mossad spy agency in recent months, the judiciary said on Saturday, warning that they will face no leniency and will be made an example of.

On Wednesday, Iran executed a nuclear scientist named Rouzbeh Vadi, who was convicted of spying for Israel and passing on information on another nuclear scientist killed in Israel's airstrikes on Iran in June, state media reported.

Judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told reporters in Tehran on Saturday that charges against some of the 20 suspects arrested had been dropped and they were released. He did not give a number.

"The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all," Jahangiri was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

He said full details would be made public once investigations were complete.

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Qatar's prime minister on Saturday in Spain to discuss a plan to end the war in Gaza and release captives, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X.

🚨🚨White House special envoy @SteveWitkoff is meeting Saturday in Ibiza, Spain, with Qatari Prime Minister to discuss a plan to end the war in Gaza and release all remaining hostages held by Hamas. My story on @axioshttps://t.co/8Yzhh0QWNL

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) August 9, 2025

One of Gaza's largest aid organisations is calling for the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip as the enclave faces a severe shortage of basic hygiene supplies.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) revealed on X that soap, shampoo and sanitary pads are needed. Adding that soap has become almost impossible to find.

Millions of bars of soap are sold every day around the world.
They’re stocked up on shelves, bought without a thought.

Not in #Gaza. Even soap is almost impossibly to find.

A regular flow of basic hygiene supplies, including soap, shampoo, sanitary pads is needed.
Aid must flow… pic.twitter.com/5cpoY1vs87

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 9, 2025

Israeli forces have killed at least 14 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since Saturday, including nine aid seekers, Al Jazeera reports.

At least three Palestinians were killed in separate incidents in southern Gaza.

Israeli forces opened fire on aid seekers in Rafah, killing a woman and a young man, while an Israeli drone targeted a residential apartment west of Khan Younis, killing one Palestinian and wounding another.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has paid tribute to former Palestine national team player Suleiman al-Obeid, who was shot dead by Israeli forces while seeking aid in southern Gaza.

The Palestinian Football Association said al-Obeid, nicknamed the "Palestinian Pele", 41, was married with two sons and three daughters.

"Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the 'Palestinian Pelé'. A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times," UEFA wrote on X.

Israel's war has now killed at least 662 Palestinian athletes and their family members since October 2023

Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the 'Palestinian Pelé'.

A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times. pic.twitter.com/wGSXCq2ceo

— UEFA (@UEFA) August 8, 2025

Several Palestinians, including aid seekers, were killed across the Gaza Strip as Israel continues to wage its war, medical sources told Wafa.

Seven civilians were killed after the Israeli army targeted north of the Nuseirat refugee camp and aid seekers south of Wadi Gaza in the central Gaza Strip. A further 33 were injured.

At the same time, two Palestinians were killed after the army targeted Gazans seeking aid near an aid distribution point on Salah al-Din Street, south of Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip.

The foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli Security Cabinet's plan to occupy Gaza City.

"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.