Israel’s plan to “take management” of Gaza Metropolis as accepted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s safety cupboard touched off a wave of criticism Friday from each inside and out of doors the nation.
Nations around the globe condemned the plan, saying it might solely worsen the battle and result in extra bloodshed.
The United Nations Safety Council was to satisfy in a uncommon weekend session on Saturday to debate Israel’s determination, three diplomatic sources instructed AFP.
United Nations Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres known as the Israeli plan a “harmful escalation” that dangers “deepening the already catastrophic penalties for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians”.
“The Israeli authorities’s determination to additional prolong its navy operation in Gaza have to be reconsidered,” European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned on X. She known as for a ceasefire, the discharge of all hostages and “fast and unhindered entry” for humanitarian support in Gaza.
European Council president Antonio Costa warned that “such a choice should have penalties” for EU-Israel ties. “The scenario in Gaza stays dramatic, and the choice by the Israeli authorities will solely additional worsen it,” he posted on X.
Dutch International Minister Caspar Veldkamp instructed Axios’s Barak Ravid: “Netanyahu’s cupboard is shedding Europe — completely. We stand with Israel, however not with the coverage of the Israeli authorities.”
Folks examine the harm on the Sheikh Radwan al-Taba UNRWA clinic following an Israeli military bombardment in Gaza Metropolis on August 6, 2025. The clinic had been evacuated of displaced Palestinians previous to the strike. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi)
In Hamas’s backer Iran, international ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei mentioned Israel’s plan was “one other clear signal of the Zionist regime’s particular intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza and commit genocide towards the Palestinians.”
In China, a international ministry spokesperson instructed AFP, “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian folks and is an inseparable a part of Palestinian territory. The right strategy to ease the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and to safe the discharge of hostages is a direct ceasefire.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz mentioned it was “more and more obscure” how the Israeli navy plan would assist obtain reliable goals. “Underneath these circumstances, the German authorities will not authorize any exports of navy tools that might be used within the Gaza Strip till additional discover,” he added.
Within the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer mentioned, “This motion will do nothing to convey an finish to this battle or to assist safe the discharge of the hostages,” including that it might “solely convey extra bloodshed.”
France’s international ministry mentioned the deliberate operation “would represent additional critical violations of worldwide legislation and lead to an entire useless finish,” whereas Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney mentioned: “We be part of many others in viewing that that is fallacious, that this motion just isn’t going to contribute to an enchancment within the humanitarian scenario on the bottom.”
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches alongside Gaza Metropolis, Sunday, August 3, 2025. (AP Photograph/Jehad Alshrafi)
The international ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the UK mentioned in a joint assertion that “the plans that the Authorities of Israel has introduced threat violating worldwide humanitarian legislation.”
Qatar mentioned Doha views the choice as “a harmful improvement that threatens to exacerbate the humanitarian struggling ensuing from the continued conflict within the Strip, exacerbates its disastrous repercussions and undermines efforts aimed toward reaching a everlasting ceasefire.” The United Arab Emirates known as on the worldwide neighborhood “to satisfy their duties and put an finish to such unlawful practices in contravention of worldwide legislation.”
The UNSC assembly at 19:00 GMT Saturday was requested by a number of members of the Safety Council, a member of the Council instructed AFP, as international concern mounted over Israel’s plan.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authority’s UN envoy, additionally mentioned earlier within the day that quite a few international locations could be requesting a gathering on the Safety Council to debate Israel’s plans, which have been accepted in a Thursday in a single day cupboard session.
The Safety Council session is unlikely to provide any decision and even assertion, regardless of the widespread worldwide opposition to the Israeli plan, because the US would make sure to dam such initiatives.
The Gaza Metropolis takeover, which was approved regardless of the navy’s opposition, has sparked fierce criticism at house and overseas, with hostage households saying it’s going to endanger their family members and international governments warning of dire penalties for Gaza’s civilians.
UN Secretary Normal Antonio Guterres holds a press convention on the sidelines of the thirty fourth Arab League summit in Baghdad, Iraq, on Might 17, 2025. (AMEER AL-MOHAMMEDAWI / POOL / AFP)
The UN and different support businesses have reported skyrocketing circumstances of malnutrition in Gaza. Israel has blamed the disaster on the UN and Hamas, each of whom it accuses of impeding support deliveries.
Gaza Metropolis takeover plans enrage households of captives
The plan’s limitation of the IDF takeover to Gaza Metropolis didn’t appear to go so far as what had earlier been characterised as a plan to occupy the whole thing of the Strip. Netanyahu instructed Fox Information hours earlier than the safety cupboard convened {that a} full takeover was his intention.
Nonetheless, an announcement from Netanyahu’s workplace notably described the adopted proposal as one aimed toward “defeating Hamas,” which means that there could also be subsequent operations past the one for Gaza Metropolis that have been accepted and never introduced.
The choice didn’t use the phrase “occupy,” and as a substitute referred to “taking on,” because of authorized causes pertaining to Israel’s duty for civilian issues in Gaza, based on the Ynet information website. The outlet added, nonetheless, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, that this distinction was superficial, and the choice in reality pertains to full navy rule. The conquest would cease if a hostage deal is clinched, based on the report.
Roughly a million Palestinians — a lot of whom have already been displaced a number of occasions all through the 22-month conflict — at present reside in Gaza Metropolis, in northern Gaza. A senior Israeli official instructed The Instances of Israel information that the plan accepted by the cupboard will see these civilians evacuated towards the south.
The cupboard determination states that Palestinians can have till October 7, 2025, to evacuate Gaza Metropolis — a two-month window that additionally coincides with the second anniversary of Hamas’s assault on Israel, the Israeli official mentioned. The IDF will then launch its floor offensive into Gaza Metropolis, putting a siege on the world with a purpose to kill any remaining Hamas operatives. After the takeover is full, the official indicated that the IDF will proceed to the remaining unconquered areas of Gaza.
Israel says it at present controls 75 % of the Strip, whereas the IDF has largely averted getting into the remaining 25% — which largely includes Gaza Metropolis and refugee camps in central Gaza — as a result of perception that many of the hostages are being held there. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2 million residents are at present within the quarter of the Strip that the IDF doesn’t management. Hamas has threatened to execute hostages if its operatives detect Israeli troops closing in; Hamas captors killed six Israeli hostages in Rafah, in southern Gaza, final August, when IDF troops inadvertently neared the tunnel the place they have been being held.
Hostage households, who demand the federal government finish the conflict and attain a complete hostage deal, staged fiery protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem Thursday evening as the cupboard convened to debate the Gaza plans.
They argue that the final 5 months have confirmed that navy stress has not led Hamas to launch the hostages and that Israel is able to comply with Hamas’s demand to finish the conflict, as the fear group not poses a strategic risk to Israel.
Hamas has totally transitioned to preventing as a guerrilla group, inflicting roughly three dozen Israeli casualties since Israel broke the ceasefire in March by launching Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which was additionally aimed toward securing the discharge of the hostages and defeating Hamas.
Households of hostages held in Gaza and their supporters name for the tip of the conflict in Gaza and the discharge of all captives, outdoors a safety cupboard assembly in Jerusalem, August 7, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Netanyahu argues that ending the conflict and withdrawing from Gaza, as Hamas calls for, will enable Hamas to regroup.
Within the meantime, Netanyahu has rejected any post-war governing function in Gaza for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, and in any other case refused to advance a viable governing various to Hamas.
The premier’s critics say this has allowed the conflict to tug out endlessly as Hamas has managed to stay probably the most dominant Palestinian power in Gaza. For his half, Netanyahu has argued that no various to Hamas will be capable to survive in Gaza earlier than the fear group has been defeated.
Netanyahu’s authorities additionally depends on far-right coalition companions who oppose a hostage deal and need to completely occupy the Strip, push out its residents and re-establish settlements of their place.
