ReutersIsrael has strongly rejected criticism from world leaders after its security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City.
Defence minister Israel Katz said countries that condemn Israel and threaten sanctions “will not weaken our resolve”.
“Our enemies will find us as one strong, united fist that will strike them with great force,” he added.
Israel’s decision to expand its war in Gaza sparked condemnation from the UN and several countries, including the UK, France and Canada, and prompted Germany to halt military exports to Israel.
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”.
Reports in Israeli media say the plan initially focuses on taking full control of Gaza City, relocating its estimated one million residents further south. Forces would also take control of refugee camps in central Gaza and areas where hostages are thought to be held.
A second offensive would follow weeks later in parallel with a boost in humanitarian aid, media say.
The move to escalate the conflict has drawn fierce opposition from some within Israel, including from military officials and the families of hostages being held in Gaza.
Hamas has said the plan to occupy Gaza City “constitutes a new war crime” and would “cost [Israel] dearly”.
Reacting to Israel’s decision, UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that further escalation “will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes”.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the move “wrong”, saying it “will only bring more bloodshed”.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Israel “not to go down this path”, stressing that it would “only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry urged the world community to prevent Israel’s plan, which it said aimed to “forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land”.
In China, a foreign ministry spokesperson told the AFP news agency that “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory”.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz he was disappointed with Berlin’s decision to suspend arms exports to Israel, saying it was “rewarding Hamas terrorism”.
In Israel itself, families of the remaining hostages in Gaza have warned that the lives of the 20 believed to have survived will be put in peril.
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said the decision “is leading us toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers”.
However, the US has been less critical. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was “pretty much up to Israel” whether to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.
The IDF currently controls about three-quarters of Gaza, and almost all of its 2.1 million citizens are situated in the quarter of the territory that the military does not control.
The UN estimates some 87% of Gaza is either in militarised zones or under evacuation orders.
There are areas in central Gaza and along the Mediterranean coast that Israel does not occupy, according to the UN.
These include refugee camps, where much of Gaza’s population is now living after their homes were destroyed by Israel’s military action.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population has already been displaced by the war, many people several times over.
The war has created a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, most of which UN-backed experts say is at the point of famine.
The territory is also experiencing mass deprivation as a result of heavy restrictions imposed by Israel on what is allowed in – something it says is aimed at weakening Hamas.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said July was the worst month for cases of acute malnutrition in children in Gaza, affecting nearly 12,000 under the age of five.
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military offensive in response, which has killed at least 61,158 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
