Escalation of Gaza offensive will ‘only bring more bloodshed’ says UK PM
UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Israel’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
In a statement, Starmer 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.
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.
Together with our allies, we are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution, and ultimately achieve a brighter future for Palestinians and Israelis.
But without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes.
Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction.
Key events
The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, has said it was “increasingly clear” that Benjamin Netanyahu’s “goal is ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and urged the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel and sanction the Israeli PM.
Davey said:
Netanyahu’s plans to occupy the whole of Gaza are utterly abhorrent – and it’s increasingly clear that his goal is ethnic cleansing.
This plan will only serve to wreak more devastation on the lives of millions of Gazans – whose homes and communities have already been destroyed – while endangering the lives of those hostages still held by Hamas.
Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel – today – and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet.
Turkey condemns Israel’s Gaza City plan and calls for international action
Turkey has 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 on Friday, reports Reuters.
UN says Israel’s plan for military takeover of Gaza ‘must be immediately halted’
UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk on Friday said that “the Israeli government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted”.
In a statement, Türk said:
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.
Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen said she was “extremely worried” by the looming famine in Gaza.
According to Reuters, Valtonen said:
We hope for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and the immediate release of Israeli hostages.
Escalation of Gaza offensive will ‘only bring more bloodshed’ says UK PM
UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Israel’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
In a statement, Starmer 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.
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.
Together with our allies, we are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution, and ultimately achieve a brighter future for Palestinians and Israelis.
But without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes.
Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction.
In additional comments, this time to Sky News, 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.
The UK hopes Israel will reconsider its decision to take control of Gaza City, a junior energy minister said on Friday, reports Reuters.
Miatta Fahnbulleh told Times Radio:
We think that decision is the wrong decision, and we hope that the Israeli government will reconsider it.
It risks escalating an already intolerable and atrocious situation.
The Times of Israel reports that Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats party, has said that Benjamin Netanyahu and the security cabinet’s decision means that “more hostages will be abandoned to their deaths”.
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 demilitarize the Gaza Strip, he added:
Are we going to crawl through tunnels and retrieve the last Kalashnikovs?
Summary
Here’s a recap of the latest news after Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli security cabinet had approved a plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The decision – early on Friday during a marathon meeting – came after the Israeli prime minister said Israel intended to take full control of Gaza and eventually hand it over to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
It is thought that the security cabinet’s decision to take over Gaza City as opposed to the entire territory could reflect the reservations of Israel’s top military officials.
In key developments:
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Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the security cabinet’s Gaza City decision as “a disaster that will lead to many more disasters” and said far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich had dragged Benjamin Netanyahu into something that was “exactly what Hamas wanted”. Lapid said the decision would lead to the deaths of more hostages and many soldiers as well as “political collapse”.
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In announcing the Gaza City takeover plan, Netanyahu’s office referred to another plan submitted to the Israeli security cabinet but said most of the ministers believed it “would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages”. Israeli media reported that this appeared to be referring to a proposal presented by Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
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Hamas said in a statement that “Netanyahu’s plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda”. And in the first reaction by a main Arab neighbour to Netanyahu’s comments on taking over Gaza, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs “will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
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Hundreds of demonstrators outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening protested against any expansion of the war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all hostages.
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Before the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu was asked on Fox News if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza” and he replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.” He also said: “We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
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Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had been hoping to obtain approval for fully controlling Gaza at the security cabinet meeting. The plan would have meant sending ground troops into the few areas of the strip that have not been totally destroyed – roughly 25% of the territory where many of its 2 million people have sought refuge.
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Israel was reportedly preparing a two-phase operation aimed at seizing control of Gaza City, with plans to evacuate about 1 million residents – half of Gaza’s population – in what officials described as a temporary measure to establish civilian infrastructure in central Gaza.
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At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Of the 42, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds.
Former Palestine national team player Suleiman al-Obeid, known as the “Palestinian Pele”, has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip, the sport’s local governing body said.
Obeid, 41, was killed when Israeli forces “targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip” on Wednesday, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said.
Agence France-Presse reports that Obeid – an ex-star of the Khadamat Al-Shati club in Gaza – played 24 international matches for team Palestine, the PFA said.
During his long career, Al-Obeid scored more than 100 goals, making him one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football.
The midfielder also played for the Al-Amari youth centre club in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
While living there in 2010, Obeid was among six players on the national team from Gaza who were turned back at the Jordanian border for “security reasons” on their way to a friendly match in Mauritania. An Israeli security official said at the time that the players had failed to renew special permits allowing them to play in the West Bank.
Obeid told AFP in 2010:
When I heard that we would be forbidden from travelling I was very upset, because any athlete dreams of wearing his national jersey in international forums.
We want to be able to travel freely with our families, just like athletes anywhere else in the world.
Another major Israeli ground operation will almost certainly lead to the killing of more Israeli soldiers in hit-and-run attacks, eroding domestic support for the war, and could endanger the remaining hostages, as the AP reports.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in the October 2023 attack and abducted 251 hostages, most of whom since been released in ceasefires or other deals. Fifty remain in the territory, around 20 of whom are believed by Israel to be alive.
Palestinian militants have released videos in recent days showing emaciated hostages, saying they are suffering the same starvation as the Palestinian population.
Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in tunnels and other secret locations and has hinted it will kill them if Israeli forces draw near.
Former security officials have also spoken out against further military operations, saying there is little to gain after Hamas has been militarily decimated.
Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, reportedly argued during the security cabinet meeting that a more sweeping plan to retake all of Gaza would endanger the hostages and put added strain on the army after two years of regional wars.
Yair Lapid calls Gaza City takeover decision ‘a disaster’
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has blasted the security cabinet’s Gaza City decision as “a disaster” and said far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich dragged the Israeli prime minister into something that was “exactly what Hamas wanted”.
Lapid also said the decision would lead to the deaths of more hostages and many soldiers as well as “political collapse”.
His post on X reads in full (in a translation):
The cabinet’s decision tonight is a disaster that will lead to many more disasters.
In complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks, without considering the erosion and exhaustion of the fighting forces, Ben Gvir and Smotrich dragged Netanyahu into a move that will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse.
This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading.
