UN chief calls Israeli plan to take management of Gaza Metropolis a ‘harmful escalation’
United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has criticized Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza Metropolis, with the UN chief’s spokesperson saying the choice marked “a harmful escalation” that dangers “deepening the already catastrophic penalties for tens of millions of Palestinians”.
That call “will lead to extra compelled displacement, killings and large destruction, compounding the unimaginable struggling of the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza,” the assertion added.
Guterres additionally posted a statement on X:
I’m gravely alarmed by the choice of the Israeli Authorities to “take management of Gaza Metropolis”. This marks a harmful escalation & dangers deepening the already catastrophic penalties for tens of millions of Palestinians. It may additional endanger extra lives, together with of the remaining hostages. I reiterate my pressing attraction for a everlasting ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian entry throughout Gaza & the instant & unconditional launch of all hostages.
It follows the UN excessive commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, saying earlier right now that “the Israeli authorities’s plan for an entire army takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted”.
In a press release, Türk stated:
It runs opposite to the ruling of the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice that Israel should convey its occupation to an finish as quickly as attainable, to the realisation of the agreed two-state resolution and to the appropriate of Palestinians to self-determination.
The plan triggered international condemnation, with China, Turkey, Britain and quite a few Arab governments issuing statements of concern.
Key occasions
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Abstract
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Israel’s plan to take management of Gaza Metropolis marks “a harmful escalation” that dangers “deepening the already catastrophic penalties for tens of millions of Palestinians”, the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres stated. That call “will lead to extra compelled displacement, killings and big destruction, compounding the unimaginable struggling of the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza,” a press release from the UN chief’s spokesperson added.
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The UN Safety Council will meet in a uncommon weekend session on Saturday to debate the scenario. The assembly at 7pm GMT had been requested by a number of members of the safety council as international concern mounts over Israel’s plan.
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The German authorities won’t approve any exports of army gear that might be used within the Gaza Strip till additional discover, chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to broaden its army operations there. Netanyahu accused the German authorities of “rewarding Hamas terrorism”. The transfer is massively vital from Germany, which believes it has a particular accountability in the direction of Israel and is its second-largest arms provider after the US.
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France joined the refrain of nations together with amongst others the UK, China, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, condemning the Israeli plan, saying it will “worsen an already catastrophic scenario with out enabling the discharge of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its give up”. France’s ministry of international affairs has issued a press launch, condemning the plan “within the strongest phrases”. It reads: “These actions would represent additional critical violations of worldwide legislation and result in an absolute stalemate. They’d undermine the respectable aspirations of the Palestinians to dwell in peace in a viable, sovereign, and contiguous state, and pose a risk to regional stability.” The ministry added that Israel’s plans would “on no account” contribute to the safety of Israelis, together with the remaining hostages in Gaza. The way forward for Gaza must be via a “framework of a future Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority”, it stated.
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Israel’s choice to take over Gaza Metropolis “will need to have penalties for EU-Israel relations”, EU Council president Antonio Costa stated on Friday, including that this shall be assessed by the Council and that he urged the Israeli authorities to rethink.
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Hamas warned the Israeli authorities that seizing management of Gaza Metropolis would quantity to “sacrificing” the hostages nonetheless being held within the Palestinian territory. The group stated: “The choice to occupy Gaza confirms that the prison [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his Nazi authorities don’t care concerning the destiny of their captives.”
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Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert advised CNN that Israel’s plan to take management of Gaza Metropolis gained’t save the remaining hostages, however will relatively endanger lives and “enhance the variety of crimes” within the territory. He advised CNN right now that an expanded army operation “is just not going to save lots of the hostages, goes to value the lives of many troopers, and goes to value the lives of many non-involved Palestinians”. Olmert, was prime minister from 2006 to 2009, blamed the choice on Benjamin Netanyahu’s battle to carry collectively his authorities.
Former Israeli PM says Gaza Metropolis takeover plan will endanger many lives
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has stated that Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City gained’t save the remaining hostages, however will relatively endanger lives and “enhance the variety of crimes” within the territory.
He advised CNN right now that an expanded army operation “is just not going to save lots of the hostages, goes to value the lives of many troopers, and goes to value the lives of many non-involved Palestinians”.
“It’s going to enhance the variety of crimes which shall be dedicated not as a part of a coverage. There is no such thing as a coverage of committing crimes or of genocide or something like that,” he stated. “However that is the character of this operation.”
Olmert, was prime minister from 2006 to 2009, stated ending the struggle would save the hostages nonetheless being held in Gaza and different victims. He blamed the choice on Benjamin Netanyahu’s battle to carry collectively his authorities.
The prime minister personally is captive of a bunch of messianic companions within the coalition authorities which holds the tide. And so they threaten that if the choice shall be completely different, they’ll break down the federal government.
That is the common consensus in Israel right now that this can be a political expediency. There is no such thing as a query about it.
Final month, Olmert told my colleague Emma Graham-Harrison that the so-called “humanitarian metropolis” Israel’s defence minister has proposed constructing on the ruins of Rafah could be a focus camp, and forcing Palestinians inside could be ethnic cleaning.
We now have affirmation of AFP’s report that the United Nations Safety Council will certainly meet on Saturday, in line with its schedule launched right now, after Israel’s safety cupboard accepted a broadly condemned plan to take control of Gaza Metropolis.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, everlasting observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, had earlier stated a lot of nations could be requesting a gathering of the UN Safety Council on Israel’s plans.
The assembly will happen at 7pm GMT on Saturday, the schedule says.
US envoy to Israel taunts UK PM and likens Gaza assault to Dresden bombing

Robert Tait
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has launched an undiplomatic assault on Keir Starmer by invoking the allied second world struggle bombing of Dresden after the British prime minister criticised the Israeli security cabinet’s decision to expand the war in Gaza.
“So Israel is predicted to give up to Hamas & feed them despite the fact that Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee wrote on social media (repeating the un-evidenced Israeli authorities speaking level that Hamas is stealing support meant for civilians). He was responding to a publish by Starmer calling for an immediate ceasefire and lamenting the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, in addition to the destiny of the remaining Israeli hostages being held by Hamas.
Provocatively, Huckabee, who has a history of making intemperate comments in Israel’s favour, added:
Did UK give up to Nazis and drop meals to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t meals you dropped. In the event you had been PM then UK could be talking German!
The bombing of Dresden by the RAF and US air drive in February 1945 is believed to have killed tens of 1000’s of civilians. It stays some of the controversial allied acts of the second world struggle, amid questions marks over its strategic necessity and the widespread destruction in civilian areas.
You possibly can learn Robert’s full piece right here:
Additional to the French foreign minister’s comments I introduced you a short time in the past, France’s ministry of international affairs has issued a press launch, condemning “within the strongest phrases” the Israeli authorities’s plans to take control of Gaza City.
It reads:
These actions would represent additional critical violations of worldwide legislation and result in an absolute stalemate. They’d undermine the respectable aspirations of the Palestinians to dwell in peace in a viable, sovereign, and contiguous state, and pose a risk to regional stability.
The ministry added that Israel’s plans would “on no account” contribute to the safety of Israelis, together with the remaining hostages in Gaza.
The way forward for Gaza must be via a “framework of a future Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority”, it stated.
In July, Emmanuel Macron stated that France will recognize a Palestinian state in September.
Israel occupying Gaza Metropolis would ‘worsen an already catastrophic scenario’, says French international minister
France has joined the refrain of nations strongly condemning Israel’s plan to occupy Gaza City, saying it will “worsen an already catastrophic scenario with out enabling the discharge of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its give up”.
In a post on X, the French international minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, wrote:
France strongly condemns the Israeli authorities’s plan geared toward making ready for the whole occupation of Gaza. Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic scenario with out enabling the discharge of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its give up.
UN Safety Council assembly on Saturday over Israel’s Gaza plan – report
The United Nations Safety Council will meet in a uncommon weekend session on Saturday to debate Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza City, three diplomatic sources have advised Agence France-Presse.
The assembly at 7pm GMT had been requested by a number of members of the safety council, a member of the council advised AFP, as international concern mounts over Israel’s plan.
UN chief calls Israeli plan to take management of Gaza Metropolis a ‘harmful escalation’
United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has criticized Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza Metropolis, with the UN chief’s spokesperson saying the choice marked “a harmful escalation” that dangers “deepening the already catastrophic penalties for tens of millions of Palestinians”.
That call “will lead to extra compelled displacement, killings and large destruction, compounding the unimaginable struggling of the Palestinian inhabitants in Gaza,” the assertion added.
Guterres additionally posted a statement on X:
I’m gravely alarmed by the choice of the Israeli Authorities to “take management of Gaza Metropolis”. This marks a harmful escalation & dangers deepening the already catastrophic penalties for tens of millions of Palestinians. It may additional endanger extra lives, together with of the remaining hostages. I reiterate my pressing attraction for a everlasting ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian entry throughout Gaza & the instant & unconditional launch of all hostages.
It follows the UN excessive commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, saying earlier right now that “the Israeli authorities’s plan for an entire army takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted”.
In a press release, Türk stated:
It runs opposite to the ruling of the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice that Israel should convey its occupation to an finish as quickly as attainable, to the realisation of the agreed two-state resolution and to the appropriate of Palestinians to self-determination.
The plan triggered international condemnation, with China, Turkey, Britain and quite a few Arab governments issuing statements of concern.
Displaced repeatedly. Pressured to dwell in tent camps or amid the ruins of their houses. Suffering from starvation and disadvantaged of medical provides.
Now, 22 months into the struggle, round one million Palestinians are bracing for an additional disaster after the Israeli safety cupboard’s choice to take management of your complete Gaza Strip. Such an offensive would drive them towards the south of the enclave, and an unsure future.
“Since this morning, after listening to the information of evacuation of Gaza Metropolis, I’ve been been feeling anxious and afraid,’’ stated Umm Ibrahim Banat, a 55-year-old mom, initially from northern Gaza, who has already been displaced 4 instances. ‘‘The place will we go along with the youngsters and the aged? I swear we’re exhausted from displacement, hunger, and being pushed from one place to a different.”
“Now,” she stated, “We’re the strolling lifeless.’’
Following a 10-hour in a single day assembly, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace introduced on Friday that his safety cupboard had approved a plan to take over Gaza City, marking one other escalation of Israel’s offensive that has killed no less than 61,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
Based on Israel’s Channel 12 the plan, which might imply sending floor troops into the territory, may displace tens of 1000’s of individuals and additional disrupt efforts to ship meals to the territory and drive roughly 1 million Palestinians in Gaza Metropolis and different areas into evacuation areas within the southern a part of the enclave.
“Gaza has been completely destroyed – what extra can they do?”, stated Banat, whose daughter Maryam was killed together with her husband and youngsters. “We have now misplaced the perfect of our youth; our territory is a big jail besieged by land, sea, and air; the destruction has turn into insufferable; ailments are spreading, tents stretch so far as the attention can see, water is contaminated, costs are insane, hospitals are in ruins, our lives are completely tragic! What extra do they need?”
The US and UK have “disagreements” on Gaza together with over whether or not to recognise a Palestinian state, JD Vance has advised as he arrived in England for his summer season vacation.
The US vice-president was talking forward of a bilateral assembly with David Lammy, the UK international secretary, at his Seventeenth-century grace-and-favour nation home, Chevening.
His remarks on Gaza marked a observe of discord in what in any other case gave the impression to be a convivial assembly between the 2 politicians, who’ve struck up an unlikely friendship. The pair have bonded over their Christian religion and difficult childhoods.
Earlier than chatting with reporters on Friday afternoon, Lammy and Vance had been filmed fishing for carp collectively in a pond close to Chevening Home. Expressing his love for the UK and describing Lammy as a “good pal” and “gracious host”, Vance joked that their various levels of success within the carp pond was the “one pressure on the particular relationship”.
“All of my children caught fish, however the international secretary didn’t,” he stated.