Main Points Israel’s cabinet has approved a plan to take full control of Gaza City.Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu says that Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. An Israeli official said the plan involved evacuating Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and starting a ground offensive there.Netanyahu had earlier said he intended to take over all of Gaza – but the approved plan focuses specifically on Gaza City.Israel started its war in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7th, 2023, attack which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza.Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 60,000 people, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The United Nations has called the possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming”.Starmer urges Israeli government to reconsider its decision
Israel is “wrong” to approve plans to occupy Gaza City, Keir Starmer has said, and urged it to reconsider the new offensive.
The UK Prime Minister’s intervention comes after Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet approved plans for a major escalation in the conflict.
The Israeli plan stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza, as had been touted ahead of the war cabinet meeting.
But Starmer insisted Israel should de-escalate, rather than launch the operation.
He said: “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.
“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.”
He added: “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.
“Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm.”
– Reuters
‘More hostages will be abandoned to their deaths’
Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party in Israel, has said that Benjamin Netanyahu and the security cabinet’s decision means “more hostages will be abandoned to their deaths”, the Times of Israel reports.
Of the Israeli prime minister, he said: “He is weak, easily pressured, lacking decision-making ability, and without the capacity to bridge between what the professional level presents and the group of messianists controlling the government.”
Golan described the decision as “a disaster for generations”.
Speaking to the Israeli Army Radio, Golan said: “Our sons and grandsons will still patrol the alleys of Gaza, we will pay hundreds of billions over the years, and all this for reasons of political survival and messianic visions.”
Asking how the government plans to demilitarise the Gaza Strip, he added: “Are we going to crawl through tunnels and retrieve the last Kalashnikovs?”
– The Guardian
Australia urges Israel ‘not to go down this path’
“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.
Australia has not yet joined Western allies in announcing it would recognise Palestinian statehood but said it would make a decision “at an appropriate time”, while escalating its criticism of Israel’s actions.
– Reuters
Polls show most Israelis want war to end
Opinion polls show most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages.
There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July.
Videos released last week of two living hostages showed them emaciated and frail, stirring international condemnation.
Recent images of starving children from Gaza have also shocked the world and fuelled international criticism of Israel over the sharply worsening conditions in the enclave.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only fragmented parts, insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war. Israel says the group has no intention of going through with promises to give up power afterwards.
‘Horrified by what’s happening’
In additional comments, this time to Sky News, Britain’s junior energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “We think that the decision is the wrong decision.
“We think that it will risk escalating an already intolerable situation, and the consequence will be more bloodshed. There’s no one that can see what is happening and unfolding in Gaza that isn’t horrified by it.
“Our priority is, in order to try and get a ceasefire, we’ve got to get parties around the table. I know it feels incredibly hard given the current situation, but it has to be the priority.”
Britain hopes Israel will reconsider
Britain hopes Israel will reconsider its decision to take control of Gaza City, a junior energy minister said on Friday.
“We think that decision is the wrong decision, and we hope that the Israeli government will reconsider it,” Miatta Fahnbulleh said on Times Radio.
“It risks escalating an already intolerable and atrocious situation.”
– Reuters
No immediate reaction from White House
The White House had no immediate comment. President Donald Trump has declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential full military takeover of Gaza by Israel.
Mr Netanyahu’s government has insisted on total victory over Hamas, which ignited the war when it staged a deadly October 2023 attack on Israel from Gaza.
The United Nations has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza “deeply alarming” if true.
The idea, pushed especially by far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, of Israeli forces moving into areas they do not already hold in the enclave has also generated alarm in Israel.
A ‘blatant coup’ against the negotiation process
In a statement, Hamas called Mr Netanyahu’s comments “a blatant coup” against the negotiation process.
“Netanyahu’s plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them,” the statement said.
Arab countries would “only support what Palestinians agree and decide on,” a Jordanian official source said, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through “legitimate Palestinian institutions.”
Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an “occupying” force linked to Israel.
Earlier this year, Israel and the United States rejected an Egyptian proposal, backed by Arab leaders, that envisaged the creation of an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza after the war.
Move would reverse 2005 withdrawal by Israel from Gaza Strip
In its statement, Mr Netanyahu’s office said the vast majority of the political-security cabinet members believed that “the alternative plan presented in the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages.”
Two government sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.
Total control of the territory would reverse a 2005 decision by Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens and soldiers from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, airspace and utilities.
Right-wing parties blame that withdrawal decision for the militant Palestinian group Hamas gaining power there in a 2006 election.
‘We don’t want to keep it’
Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing an Israeli official, said on X the plan involved evacuating Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and launching a ground offensive there.
Asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal territory, Mr Netanyahu yesterday told Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer in an interview on Thursday: “We intend to.”
But he said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. He did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved.
“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it. We don’t want to be there as a governing body,” he said.
It was unclear whether Mr Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged takeover or a short-term operation. Israel has repeatedly said it aims to dismantle Hamas and free Israeli hostages.
The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for defeating Hamas.
The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) August 8, 2025
Israel’s cabinet approves plan to take control of Gaza City
Israel’s cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, as the country expands its military operations despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war.
“The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
While Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intended to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, the plan approved on Friday focused specifically on Gaza City, the largest city in the enclave, located in its north.