Gaza

Police in London carried out the most arrests in a single day for a decade, detaining close to 500 peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters for ‘terrorism’. Demonstrators condemned Israel’s genocide in Gaza and expressed support for the banned activist group Palestine Action. Many say the crackdown violates free speech and targets peaceful dissent.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have held rallies and marches in cities around the world in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to Israeli attacks on the besieged and bombarded enclave as Israel-imposed starvation engulfs the entire population.

In London, the Metropolitan Police said it arrested more than 466 people at a protest on Saturday against the British government’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action.

British lawmakers proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes as part of a series of protests. The group accuses the UK government of complicity in what it calls Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Protesters, some wearing black-and-white Palestinian scarves and waving Palestinian flags, chanted, “Hands off Gaza” and held placards with the message “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

In Turkiye’s Istanbul, thousands of protesters demanded more aid be allowed into the Strip, with organisers calling on the international community to take urgent action to end the humanitarian crisis.

Many also took to the streets in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to protest against the blockade and Western support for Israel, demanding the immediate and unrestricted delivery of aid into Gaza.

Several pro-Palestine rallies were also held across Spain, including in the capital, Madrid, to protest Israeli attacks and the starvation in the enclave. Carrying Palestinian flags, protesters shouted, “End to genocide”.

In Switzerland’s Geneva, thousands gathered at the Jardin Anglais to protest against famine and malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza resulting from the Israeli blockade. The crowd staged a sit-in, shouting in English, French and Arabic to demand an end to international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

Large rallies showing support for those suffering in Gaza have also been held in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Protesters in major cities around the world have marched to oppose Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza City, its campaign of starvation, and its genocide of Palestinians. Demonstrators say the 22-month war of extermination must end.

From a festival celebrating the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in El Salvador to solemn commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing in Japan and the ongoing Israel-induced starvation and malnutrition crisis in Gaza, here is a look at the week in photos.

‘This is a death cabinet.’ Thousands of Israelis have marched in Tel Aviv to demand an end to the war on Gaza and the return of captives, a day after Israel’s security cabinet announced plans to occupy Gaza City.

Protesters in support of hostages took to the streets of Jerusalem and marched towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence to voice their anger over his government’s plan to fully occupy Gaza City.

Former soldier, Max Kresch, marched holding a sign that read “I refused”.

“We’re over 350 soldiers who served during the war and were refusing to continue to serve in Netanyahu’s political war,” he told the BBC’s Emir Nader.

Protests took place across Israel in cities including Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Israel’s decision to expand its war in Gaza – a major escalation in the conflict – sparked condemnation from the UN and many countries including the UK, France, Australia, Turkey, Germany, Finland and Canada.

The UN has warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

The plan, approved by the Israeli security cabinet, lists five “principles” for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing “an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.

Varsen Aghabekian Shahin says international community must take concrete steps to end Israeli impunity for abuses.

The international community must “shoulder its responsibility” and take action against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Palestinian foreign affairs minister has told Al Jazeera before an emergency United Nations Security Council session.

In an interview on Saturday, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said the 15-member council must uphold international law when it convenes at UN headquarters in New York on Sunday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting was organised in response to Israel’s newly announced plan to seize Gaza City, which has drawn widespread condemnation from world leaders.

“I expect that the international community stands for international law and international humanitarian law,” Aghabekian Shahin told Al Jazeera.

“What has been going in Palestine for the last 22 months is nothing but a genocide, and it’s part and parcel of Israel’s expansionist ideology that wants to take over the entirety of the occupied State of Palestine.”

The Israeli security cabinet approved plans this week to seize Gaza City, forcibly displacing nearly one million Palestinians to concentration zones in the south of the bombarded coastal enclave.

Palestinians have rejected the Israeli push to force them out of the city while human rights groups and the UN have warned that the plan will worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and lead to further mass casualties.

Israel has pledged to push ahead with its plans despite the growing criticism, saying that it wants to “free Gaza from Hamas”.

The country’s top global ally, the United States, has not commented directly on the plan to seize Gaza City. But US President Donald Trump suggested earlier this week that he would not block an Israeli push to take over all of Gaza.

Aghabekian Shahin told Al Jazeera that if Trump – whose administration continues to provide unwavering diplomatic and military support to Israel – wants to reach a solution, Palestinian rights must be taken into account.

“There will be no peace in Israel-Palestine, or the region for that matter, or even the world at large, if the rights of the Palestinians are not respected,” she said, noting that this means a Palestinian state must be established.

The minister also slammed recent remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the future governance of Gaza.

In a social media post on Friday, Netanyahu said he wants “a peaceful civilian administration” to be established in the enclave, “one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization”.

But Aghabekian Shahin said it’s up to Palestinians to decide who should govern them.

“The one that has the legal and the political authority on Gaza today is the PLO,” she said, referring to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“If Gaza wants to come back to the core, which is the entirety of the Palestinian land, then it has to become under the control and governance of the Palestinian Authority, the PLO.”

Aghabekian Shahin also condemned the international community for failing to act as Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have faced a surge in Israeli military and settler attacks in the shadow of the country’s war on Gaza.

“It is the inaction that has emboldened the Israelis, including the settlers, to do whatever they are doing for the last six decades, since day one of the 1967 occupation,” she said.

“The times are very dangerous now, and it’s important that the international community shoulders its responsibility. The impunity with which Israel was happily moving should stop.”

WASHINGTON — After styling himself for decades as a dealmaker, President Trump is showing some receipts in his second term of ceasefires and peace agreements brokered on his watch. But the president faces extraordinary challenges in his latest push to negotiate ends to the world’s two bloodiest conflicts.

Stakes could not be higher in Ukraine, where nearly a million Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in pursuit of Vladimir Putin’s war of conquest, according to independent analysts. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers add to the catastrophic casualty toll. Trump’s struggle to get both sides to a negotiating table, let alone to secure a ceasefire, has grown into a fixation for Trump, prompting rare rebukes of Putin from the U.S. president.

And in the Gaza Strip, an alliance that has withstood scathing international criticism over Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas has begun to show strain. Trump still supports the fundamental mission of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to destroy the militant group and secure the release of Israeli hostages in its possession. But mounting evidence of mass starvation in Gaza has begun to fray the relationship, reportedly resulting in a shouting match in their most recent call.

Breakthroughs in the two conflicts have evaded Trump, despite his efforts to fashion himself into the “peacemaker-in-chief” and floating his own nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

In Turnberry, Scotland, last month, Trump claimed that six wars had been stopped or thwarted under his watch since he returned to office in January. “I’m averaging about a war a month,” he said at the time.

He has, in fact, secured a string of tangible successes on the international stage, overseeing a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda; hosting a peace ceremony between Armenia and Azerbeijan; brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand, and imposing an end to a 12-day war between Israel and Iran after engaging U.S. forces directly in the conflict.

Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s foreign minister, from left, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Democratic Republic of the Congo foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner in the Oval Office of the White House on June 27. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda agreed to a U.S.-backed peace deal meant to end years of deadly conflict and promote development in Congo’s volatile eastern region.

(Yuri Gripas/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“As president, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world,” Trump said at the ceremony with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders Friday.

“We’ve only been here for six months. The world was on fire. We took care of just about every fire — and we’re working on another one,” he said, “with Russia, Ukraine.”

Trump also takes credit for lowering tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, and for brokering a ceasefire between two nuclear states, India and Pakistan, a claim the latter supports but the former denies.

“Wars usually last five to 10 years,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, chair in defense and strategy at the Brookings Institution. “Trump is tactically clever, but no magician. If he actually gets three of these five conflicts to end, that’s an incredible track record.

“In each case, he may exaggerate his own role,” O’Hanlon said, but “that’s OK — I welcome the effort and contribution, even if others deserve credit, too.”

One-on-one with Putin

Well past his campaign promise of ending Russia’s war with Ukraine “within 24 hours” of taking office, Trump has tried pressuring both sides to come to the negotiating table, starting with the Ukrainians. “You don’t have the cards,” Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an infamous Oval Office meeting in February, chastising him to prepare to make painful concessions to end the war.

But in June, at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump’s years-long geniality with Putin underwent a shift. He began criticizing Russia’s leader as responsible for the ongoing conflict, accusing Putin of throwing “meaningless … bull—” at him and his team.

“I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now,” Trump said, approving new weapons for Ukraine, a remarkable policy shift long advocated by the Europeans.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and King of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim walk during a welcoming ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace on Wednesday in Moscow. Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim is on an official visit to Russia.

(Getty Images)

The Trump administration set Friday as a deadline for Putin to demonstrate his commitment to a ceasefire, or otherwise face a new round of crushing secondary sanctions — financial tools that would punish Russia’s trading partners for continuing business with Moscow.

Those plans were put on hold after Trump announced he would meet with Putin in Alaska next week, a high-stakes meeting that will exclude Zelensky.

“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Friday. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Meeting Putin one-on-one — the first meeting between a U.S. and Russian president in four years, and the first between Putin and any Western leader since he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — in and of itself could be seen as a reward for a Russian leader seeking to regain international legitimacy, experts said.

In this June 28, 2019, file photo, President Trump, right, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

(Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

Worse still, Putin, a former KGB officer, could approach the meeting as an opportunity to manipulate the American president.

“Putin has refused to abandon his ultimate objectives in Ukraine — he is determined to supplant the Zelensky government in Kyiv with a pro-Russian regime,” said Kyle Balzer, a scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “He wants ironclad guarantees that Ukraine will never gain admittance to NATO. So there is currently no agreement to be had with Russia, except agreeing to surrender to Putin’s demands. Neither Ukraine nor Europe are interested in doing so.

“Put simply, Putin likely believes that he can wear down the current administration,” Balzer added. “Threatening Russia with punitive acts like sanctions, and then pulling back when the time comes to do so, has only emboldened Putin to strive for ultimate victory in Ukraine.”

A European official told The Times that, while the U.S. government had pushed for Zelensky to join the initial meeting, a response from Kyiv — noting that any territorial concession to Russia in negotiations would have to be approved in a ballot referendum by the Ukrainian people — scuttled the initial plan.

The Trump administration is prepared to endorse the bulk of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory, including the eastern region of Donbas and the Crimean peninsula, at the upcoming summit, Bloomberg reported. On Friday, Trump called the issue of territory “complicated.”

“We’re gonna get some back,” he said. “There will be some swapping of territories.”

Michael Williams, an international relations professor at Syracuse University, said that Trump has advocated for a ceasefire in Ukraine “at the expense of other strategic priorities such as stability in Europe and punishment of Russia through increased aid to Ukraine.”

Such an approach, Williams said, “would perhaps force the Kremlin to end the war, and further afield, would signal to other potential aggressors, such as China, that violations of international law will be met with a painful response.”

Gaza

At Friday’s peace ceremony, Trump told reporters he was considering a proposal to relocate Palestinian refugees to Somalia and its breakaway region, Somaliland, once Israel ends hostilities against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“We are working on that right now,” Trump said.

It was just the latest instance of Trump floating the resettlement of Palestinians displaced during the two-year war there, which has destroyed more than 90% of the structures throughout the strip and essentially displaced its entire population of 2 million people. The Hamas-run Health Ministry reports that more than 60,000 civilians and militants have died in the conflict.

Hamas, recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others, has refused to concede the war, stating it would disarm only once a Palestinian state is established. The group continues to hold roughly 50 Israeli hostages, some dead and some alive, among 251 taken during its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which also killed about 1,200 people.

Protesters gather in a demonstration organized by the families of the Israeli hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023 calling for action to secure their release outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

(Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel’s Cabinet voted this week to approve a plan to take over Gaza City in the north of the strip and, eventually, the rest of the territory, a deeply unpopular strategy in the Israeli military and among the Israeli public. Netanyahu on Friday rejected the notion that Israel planned to permanently occupy Gaza.

Despite applying private pressure on Netanyahu, Trump’s strategy has largely fallen in line with that of his predecessor, Joe Biden, whose team supported Israel’s right to defend itself while working toward a peace deal that, at its core, would exchange the remaining hostages for a cessation of hostilities.

The talks have stalled, one U.S. official said, primarily blaming Hamas over its demands.

“In Gaza, there is a fundamental structural imbalance of dealing with a terrorist organization that may be immune to traditional forms of pressure — military, economic or otherwise — and that may even have a warped, perverse set of priorities in which the suffering of its own people is viewed as a political asset because it tarnishes the reputation of the other party, Israel,” said Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “So Trump really only has leverage over one party — his ally, Israel — which he has been reluctant to wield, reasonably so.”

In Ukraine, too, Trump holds leverage he has been unwilling, thus far, to bring to bear.

“There, Trump has leverage over both parties but appears reluctant to wield it on one of them — Russia,” Satloff said.

But Trump suggested Friday that threatened sanctions on India over its purchase of Russian oil, and his agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to secure greater security spending from European members, “had an impact” on Moscow’s negotiating position.

“I think my instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it,” Trump said. “I think we’re getting very close.”

Aug. 9 (UPI) — More than 200 people were arrested in London Saturday during a major pro-Palestinian protest in the British capital, police confirmed.

“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,” the Metropolitan Police Service said in an update on X.

“Officers are steadily working through the crowd making further arrests,” added ahead of an update that confirmed the more-accurate arrest count.

“We’re aware of a statement by Defend Our Juries (the organizers of today’s protest) claiming we were only to arrest ‘a fraction’ of those breaking the law in Parliament Square this afternoon,” the Met said on X.

“That claim simply isn’t true. We estimate there were 500 to 600 people in Parliament Square when the protests began, but many were onlookers, media, or people not holding placards in support of Palestinian Action.

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

Officials said they are prepared for three days of similar demonstrations in the city, which has a population of around 9 million people.

A majority of the protestors are reportedly members of Palestine Action. The British government in July deemed the pro-Palestinian group a terrorist organization. A conviction for membership in the group can carry a 14-year prison term.

Police from other jurisdictions are being brought in to deal with the expected crowds over the weekend.

“This is going to be a particularly busy few days in London with many simultaneous protests and events that will require a significant policing presence,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said in a statement.

“I’m grateful not just to the Met officers who will be working incredibly hard over the coming days but to those colleagues from other forces who have been deployed to London to support us.”

The demonstrations come days after Israel’s security cabinet this week voted to approve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s plan to take over control of Gaza.

Netanyahu later said the Israel Defense Forces would “free Gaza from Hamas” but that the military would not occupy the Palestinian enclave.

The plan has drawn international criticism, with several international leaders voicing their concerns this week.

“The Israeli Government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement Friday.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday his government is suspending further military exports to Israel over the latter’s desire to take control of the Gaza Strip.

Critics say ban on activist group stifles freedom of speech and assembly and aims to curb pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Police in London say they have arrested at least 200 people at a protest in support of the group Palestine Action, which was classified as a “terror organisation” by the British government last month.

The Metropolitan Police said on Saturday that 200 demonstrators had been arrested at Parliament Square “for showing support for a proscribed organisation”.

“It will take time, but we will arrest anyone expressing support for Palestine Action,” the police force said in an earlier post on X.

The arrests are the latest at a series of protests denouncing the government’s ban on Palestine Action, a move critics say infringes on freedom of speech and the right to protest, as well as aims to stifle demonstrations against Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

Under the Terrorism Act 2000, membership in or support for the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Reporting from Parliament Square on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego said the threat of arrest or punishment “hasn’t deterred any supporters” of Palestine Action from expressing their backing for the group.

“Something as simple as wearing a t-shirt saying, ‘I support Palestine Action’, or even having that written on a sheet of paper” could lead to an arrest, Gallego said.

In advance of Saturday’s protest, more than 200 people had been detained in a wave of demonstrations across the United Kingdom denouncing the ban since it came into force in July.

More than 350 academics from around the world signed onto an open letter this week applauding a “growing campaign of collective defiance” against the decision by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to proscribe Palestine Action.

The signatories “deplore the repressive consequences that this ban has already had, and are especially concerned about the likely impact of Cooper’s ban on universities across the UK and beyond”, the letter read.

Israeli historian and University of Exeter professor Ilan Pappe, Goldsmiths professor Eyal Weizman, and political thinkers Michael Hardt and Jaqueline Rose were among those who signed the letter.

Meanwhile, a separate march organised by the Palestine Coalition group was also held in London on Saturday.

The Metropolitan Police said one person had been arrested at that march from Russell Square to Whitehall for displaying a banner in support of Palestine Action.

Amnesty International UK has condemned the arrest of peaceful protesters solely for holding signs, saying such action constitutes “a violation of the UK’s international obligations to protect the rights of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”.

BREAKING: Quakers are now being arrested at Parliament Square for holding signs which say “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”

There are still hundreds here who are collectively opposing genocide and the unjust ban of the direct action group. pic.twitter.com/YcfrV8vZ4l

— Defend our Juries (@DefendourJuries) August 9, 2025

Palestine Action has increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in the UK, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment.

The group accuses the UK’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza, where Israel’s bombardment and blockade have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians since October 2023.

The British government issued the ban after Palestine Action broke into a military airbase in June and damaged two Airbus Voyager aircraft, used for air-to-air refuelling.

Manaal Siddiqui, a spokesperson for Palestine Action, told Al Jazeera that the aircraft “can be used to refuel and have been used to refuel Israeli fighter jets”.

According to the group, planes from the Brize Norton base also fly to a British Air Force base in Cyprus to then be dispatched to collect intelligence shared with the Israeli government.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 39 people, including 21 seeking humanitarian aid and 11 who starved to death, over 24 hours in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the total number of malnutrition deaths has reached 212, including 98 children, since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

Most of the deaths have occurred in recent weeks as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on aid supplies entering Gaza after partially lifting a total blockade in late May.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, told Al Jazeera that famine continues to pose a serious risk “especially among children and the elderly”.

“Malnutrition among children leads to decreased immunity and may lead to death,” he said.

On Friday, the World Food Programme (WFP) called on Israel to allow the delivery of at least 100 aid trucks per day to Gaza, noting that only 60 of its aid truck drivers have been vetted and approved by the Israeli military to date.

The 100 trucks per day the organisation called for is a fraction of the 600 per day other United Nations agencies and Gaza authorities have said are needed to meet the basic needs of Gaza residents.

“Since July 27, 266 WFP trucks arriving at crossing points were turned back, 31 percent of which had initially been approved,” the agency’s latest report said.

“Convoy movements are frequently hampered by last-minute changes by Israeli authorities, and heavy insecurity due to military activities along convoy routes.”

In its latest statement on Saturday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, noted that it has not been allowed to bring any humanitarian aid into Gaza, including food and medicine, for more than five months, depriving hungry and ailing Palestinians of what they need to survive.

UNRWA has been calling on Israel to lift its siege on Gaza, saying the ongoing airdrops of humanitarian aid from several countries “are very expensive and ineffective” at reaching those urgently in need.

The warnings come as Israeli forces continued to escalate their attacks across the territory. Six people were killed by Israeli soldiers while waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Two other Palestinians were also killed and transported to the Nasser Medical Complex from a GHF aid distribution site in the southern part of the territory.

One woman was killed and another person was wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting an apartment in Khan Younis in the south.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry’s latest count, at least 39 people have been killed in 24 hours.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,369 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 152,850. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.

‘No one and nowhere is safe’

As the death toll continues to soar, international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in the war is growing, with several countries raising alarm over Israel’s plans to seize Gaza City in an operation that could forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to concentration zones in southern Gaza.

A rare emergency UN Security Council meeting has been scheduled on Sunday to address the plan approved by Israel’s security cabinet this week.

In Gaza City, residents were defiant, promising not to leave in the event of a new Israeli ground offensive.

Umm Imran told Al Jazeera that there was nowhere safe in Gaza.

“They say go south, go to al-Mawasi, but there is nowhere safe any more – north, south, east or west. No one and nowhere is safe. We will stay here.”

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said residents were unable to sleep on Friday night after the announcement by Israel.

“People are wondering what’s going to happen to them, what’s going to be left of Gaza if Israel moves on with its approved plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City,” he said.

The Israeli plan has also been condemned by the foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the diplomats warned that Israel’s plan will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians”.

“Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also urged Muslim nations to work in unison to oppose Israel’s plan.

Speaking at a joint news conference in El Alamein with his Egyptian counterpart after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fidan said members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had been called to an emergency meeting to tackle the crisis.

Protesters from the Israeli activist group, Brothers and Sisters in Arms, etched an anti-war message in the sand near a US embassy building in Tel Aviv. It demanded President Donald Trump intervene to stop the war in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ office said Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City is a dangerous escalation that will lead to more “forced displacement, killings, and massive destruction.”

Palestinians in Gaza City are facing the prospect of further displacement with a mixture of fear and defiance after Israel announced plans for a military takeover of the largest city in the enclave, where nearly a million people are currently sheltering.

The city was thrown into chaos on Friday after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for the takeover, which would involve the forcible removal of Palestinians already displaced multiple times into concentration zones in the south.

“I swear to God that I have faced death like 100 times, so for me, it’s better to die here,” said Ahmed Hirz, who has been displaced along with his family at least eight times since Israel’s war began.

“I will never leave here,” he told Al Jazeera. “We have gone through suffering and starvation and torture and miserable conditions, and our final decision is to die here.”

That sentiment was shared by others who spoke to Al Jazeera. Rajab Khader said he would refuse to move to southern Gaza, to “stay in the streets with dogs and other animals”.

“We must stay in Gaza [City] with our families and loved ones. The Israelis will find nothing except our bodies and our souls,” he said.

Maghzouza Saada, who was previously displaced from northeastern Beit Hanoon, expressed her outrage over being forced to move again, when nowhere in the Strip could be considered safe.

“The south is not safe. Gaza City is not safe, the north is not safe. Where should we go?” she asked. “Do we throw ourselves in the sea?”

‘State of panic’

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said residents had been in a “state of panic” since the early hours of Friday over Israel’s plans to ethnically cleanse the area.

He said that some had started to pack up whatever is left of their belongings. “Not because they know where they are going, but because they don’t want to be caught at the [last] moment. They want to be ready for the time the Israeli military is forcing them out,” said Mahmoud.

“The fear, the concern, the desperation are all on the rise. The Israeli military promises an evacuation zone where people, in fact, end up being killed in these areas,” he added.

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, said residents were tired of being forcibly and repeatedly displaced. This time, he said, the prospect of evacuation posed even greater dangers, with hospitals, water facilities and other infrastructure destroyed.

“Now, there is nothing to give to the people, and it’s risky,” he said.

“We have to move elders who cannot walk, and we have patients and injured people who cannot move. We cannot leave them behind, and we cannot give them services.”

Some 900,000 Palestinians at risk

As news of Israel’s controversial escalation sunk in, the military continued its attacks on the vulnerable population, killing at least 36 people since dawn – including at least 21 who were seeking aid – according to medical sources.

Among the day’s attacks, an Israeli drone targeted Gaza’s southern municipality of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis city, killing two Palestinians, according to a source from Nasser Hospital who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that one aid seeker was shot dead by Israeli forces in northern Gaza. And at least two people were killed at an aid distribution site run by the controversial United States and Israel-backed GHF, which is slated for expansion under Israel’s new offensive.

Reporting from Jordan’s capital, Amman, Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid said that the notorious foundation, which currently runs four aid sites where over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food, mainly by Israeli forces, would be operating 12 more hubs in the enclave.

Abdel-Hamid said that Israel had not given an “exact timeline” for taking control of Gaza City, but that a ground offensive was in the offing, with “troop movement along Israel’s southern border with Gaza”. Forcibly removing up to 900,000 Palestinians from the city could, she said, take weeks.

In the longer term, military experts have said Israel’s plans – which would see it assume security control over the enclave, establishing an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority – could take years.

‘War crime’

Amid mounting global condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union and a number of countries, it was unclear what Israel’s chief military backer, the US, made of the plans.

US Vice President JD Vance declined to comment on whether his administration had been given prior notification about Israel’s Gaza City plans, but continued to withhold support for a Palestinian state and underlined that “Hamas can’t attack innocent people”.

Experts say Israel would not be able to move forward with its plan to take total military control of Gaza without billions of dollars in backing from Washington. And few have forgotten President Donald Trump’s stated desire to “clean up” Gaza and turn the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

On Friday, Hamas called Israel’s plans for Gaza City a “war crime”, saying that the decision explained why the country had suddenly withdrawn from the last round of ceasefire negotiations.

In a separate statement on Telegram, it said Palestinians would “resist any occupation or aggressive force”, slamming the US for providing cover for Israel, and accusing the international community of complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session on Saturday to discuss Israel’s escalation.

The Israeli government says it’s going to seize control of Gaza City, install a different administration and try to eliminate Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Israel planned to take over the entire Strip.

The Israeli military already controls about 80 percent of Gaza. The more-than-two-million people living there have been bombed, starved, repeatedly displaced and forced into temporary shelters.

So, why did Israel make this announcement now?

Is the prime minister trying to appease the right-wing members of his cabinet?

Or is he trying to detract international condemnation of the man-made hunger crisis?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Dr Khamis Elessi – Neurorehabilitation and pain medicine consultant

Yossi Mekelberg – Senior consulting fellow at the MENA Programme of Chatham House

Phyllis Bennis – Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of Understanding Palestine and Israel

Video shows a large explosion targeting an apartment building near the al Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, only hours after the Israeli security cabinet approved a proposal to completely occupy the city.

Berlin says it will halt shipments of military equipment that could be used in Gaza after the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan to expand the war.

Germany has suspended all military exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, an escalation in the 22-month war.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the decision on Friday, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed the security cabinet voted in favour of a plan to seize the largest city in the besieged Palestinian territory.

A day earlier, Netanyahu had declared that Israeli forces were aiming to take full military control of the entire Gaza Strip despite mounting international condemnation over Israel’s war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a starvation crisis.

“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,” Merz said.

While continuing to back what he called Israel’s “right to defend itself” and the release of captives held by Hamas, Merz stressed that Germany could no longer ignore the worsening toll on civilians.

“The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved,” he said.

The timing of another major ground operation remains unclear since it will likely hinge on mobilising thousands of soldiers and forcibly removing civilians, almost certainly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe.

Gaza health authorities said 197 people, including 96 children, have died of malnutrition during the war in Gaza as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid. A United Nations-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding in the enclave.

Merz urged Israel to allow full and sustained access for humanitarian groups, including the UN and NGOs, to help civilians.

“With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs,” Merz added.

He also warned Israel against any steps towards annexing the occupied West Bank.

In July, the Israeli parliament approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the West Bank.

From October 2023 to May this year, Germany issued arms export licences to Israel worth 485 million euros ($564m), making it one of Israel’s key military suppliers, according to figures from the German parliament.

Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones”.

Palestinians in Gaza City are fearful of being displaced yet again after Israel announced plans to occupy Gaza City. The Israeli cabinet also approved a proposal for full “security control” of the Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum is there.