Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours
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Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the security cabinet's approval to take over Gaza City was a "disaster that will lead to many more disasters," Haaretz reported.
According to Lapid, far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich convinced the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into "a move that will kill the hostages and many soldiers, will cost Israeli taxpayers tens of billions and will destroy Israel's diplomatic relations".
"This is exactly what Hamas wanted: For Israel to end up stuck in Gaza without a goal, in a useless occupation, the point of which no one understands," he said.
China expressed "serious concerns" on Friday over Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, urging it to "immediately cease its dangerous actions".
"Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory," a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.
"The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire," they added.
"A complete resolution to the Gaza conflict hinges on a ceasefire; only then can a path to de-escalation be paved and regional security ensured."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Israel's decision to take control of Gaza City was wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider.
"The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately," he said in a statement.
"This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages," he said, warning that it "will only bring more bloodshed".
The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) August 8, 2025
Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions.
We need a ceasefire… pic.twitter.com/UoJhjss81e
Turkey condemns in the strongest terms Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, the foreign ministry said on Friday, calling on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to act to prevent the plan's implementation.
The ministry said Israel must immediately halt its war plans, agree a to ceasefire in Gaza, and start negotiations for a two-state solution. It added that each step by Israel's government to continue what Turkey called the genocide and occupation of Palestinian lands dealt a heavy blow to global security.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Friday said that "the Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted".
"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," he said in a statement.
Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to occupy the Gaza Strip, according to local media reports on Friday.
The operation is set to begin with the conquest of Gaza City, with the aim of clearing it of its approximately one million Palestinian residents.
While the official statement referred to the move as a "takeover", Israeli news outlet Ynet reported that the term "occupy" was deliberately avoided to sidestep the legal obligations associated with formal occupation under international law.
A senior Israeli official told local media that the word choice was for official purposes only, confirming that the actual intention is to occupy the Gaza Strip.
The Prime Minister's Office said that the military will distribute "humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones".
An Israeli official told Axios that the plan aims to empty Gaza City of civilians within two months. A siege would then be imposed on the city, targeting Hamas members, followed by a ground operation.
Read more: Israeli cabinet approves plan to occupy Gaza
US President Donald Trump yelled at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a private phone conversation on 28 July, after the latter said there was no starvation in Gaza, NBC News reported on Friday.
Netanyahu told Trump that starvation in Gaza was not real and that it had been fabricated by Hamas, the report said, citing a senior US official, two former US officials and a western official.
The officials, all of whom were briefed on the call, said Trump interrupted Netanyahu and began yelling.
He said he did not want to hear that the starvation was fake and that his aides had shown him proof that children there are starving, they said.
Britain hopes Israel will reconsider its decision to take control of Gaza City, a junior energy minister said on Friday.
"We think that decision is the wrong decision, and we hope that the Israeli government will reconsider it," Miatta Fahnbulleh said on Times Radio.
"It risks escalating an already intolerable and atrocious situation."
Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to "take control" of Gaza City, his office said in a statement on Friday.
According to The Times of Israel, the statement by the office said the cabinet members also backed a list of five demands that Israel will present to Hamas in exchange for ending the war on Gaza:
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The disarmament of Hamas
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The return of all captives and their bodies
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The demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip
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Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip
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The creation of an alternative "civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority"
The statement only refers to occupying Gaza City, which makes up 25 percent of the strip, while Netanyahu announced on Thursday that Israel planned to occupy Gaza fully but did not intend to govern it.
The report said the decision to highlight Gaza City signals a gradual military takeover.
Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,
Here are the latest updates on Israel's war on Gaza:
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The Israeli security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for the Israeli military to take control of Gaza City, following a marathon meeting that ended early on Friday morning, according to Haaretz.
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Australia has urged Israel "not to go down this path", after Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of Gaza.
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NBC News reported that commercial satellite images show the Israeli military amassing troops and equipment near the boundary of the Gaza Strip for a possible imminent major ground operation.
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Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu's "plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them," warning that it would treat any force formed to govern the territory as "an 'occupying' force linked to Israel".
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Israeli police arrested 10 protesters, including two minors, in Tel Aviv on Thursday night as thousands gathered to demand a captive deal, Haaretz reported.
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Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community pledged to resist government moves to call up seminary students for military service on Thursday, as demonstrators took to the streets in Jerusalem to protest the arrest of two objectors.
Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.
Here are the day's key developments:
- Gaza health officials confirmed that 47 Palestinians were killed by Israel in the enclave since dawn on Thursday.
- The number of Palestinians starved to death by Israel's siege has risen to 197.
- The Lebanese Ministry of Health said six people have been killed and 10 others were wounded in an Israeli air strike on Beqaa, in the east of the country.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Thursday that his plan is to militarily occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip.
- Hamas said Netanyahu's statements "represent a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and clearly reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round [of talks], despite our close proximity to a final agreement".
- A Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs "will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on".
- Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has stressed that he will continue to express his objection to government plans to occupy the Gaza Strip.
Gaza health officials confirmed that 47 Palestinians were killed by Israel in the enclave since dawn on Thursday.
A city council in the state of Massachusetts on Tuesday voted to divest from entities contributing to human rights violations in Israel's war on Gaza, making it the third municipality in the US to do so.
Members of the Medford City Council voted to pass legislation that would divest city funds from weapons manufacturers, private pensions, fossil fuel companies, prisons and other organisations that contribute to human rights violations.
Medford City Council president Isaac Bears sponsored the investments ordinance, which overwhelmingly passed with five council members voting in support, one member opposing, and another abstaining.
Read more: Massachusetts city divests from companies linked to human rights violations in Israel
The Lebanese Ministry of Health late on Thursday evening, local time, said six people have been killed and 10 others were wounded in an Israeli air strike on Beqaa, in the east of the country, earlier in the day.
A maternity ward in Leipzig, eastern Germany, has sparked a firestorm of controversy after posting an Instagram story celebrating a newborn named "Yahya Sinwar", adorned with three heart emojis.
The name, identical to the former leader of the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, has ignited a heated online debate, reflecting the deep divisions surrounding Israel's war on Gaza.
On 3 August, Leipzig University Hospital published its daily Instagram welcome posts for newborns.
Among the names, showcased on a chalkboard, was “Yahya Sinwar,” written with a heart dotting the “i”, under the word “Welcome.”
