We can bring you more now from Netanyahu's comments to reporters a little earlier. The prime minister was asked by journalists if Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering Gaza played a role in the ongoing hunger crisis.

Netanyahu blames Hamas for looting supplies, and says that Hamas has created the aid crisis.

He reiterates his denial that Israel has a "starvation policy" in Gaza - but does accept that there was "deprivation" in the Strip.

Netanyahu is also asked about the Palestinians killed at GHF sites. He says "a lot of the firing was done by Hamas".

Hamas has repeatedly denied claims that it is stealing supplies destined for civilians. A recent internal analysis by the US government found no evidence of systematic theft of humanitarian supplies, Reuters and CNN recently reported.

Image source, United Nations

In New York, the UN Security Council's (UNSC) emergency meeting concerning the situation in the Middle East is underway.

Miroslav Jenča, the assistant secretary general for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, says people in the state of Palestine are in "greater peril". He adds that Israel's new five-point plan approved on Thursday is "another dangerous escalation of the conflict".

"We are already witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe on an unimaginable scale," Jenča says, as he reiterates calls for a "full and immediate ceasefire" as well as the release of all hostages.

"Palestinians have their right to have their voices heard," Jenča says, adding the UN supports a two-state solution. He also calls for fair elections.

We're following the UNSC meeting here - you can follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page.

Netanyahu is asked how prolonging the war will help bring the hostages home. He is also asked about the timeline for establishing a new civil governance group in Gaza.

He says that if Israel "capitulated" to Hamas, they would get all the hostages back, adding that Hamas would regroup.

Netanyahu says there are "several candidates" being looked at for the establishment of a new "transitional authority".

He adds "we don't want to stay in Gaza" and that the goal is to make sure Hamas isn't there.

Netanyahu is asked by a journalist if his government believes it can still get the remaining living hostages out alive.

He says his goal is to get them all out alive and recover the remains of those who have died.

"If we don't do anything, we are not going to get them out", Netanyahu says, adding that a "war of attrition won't get them out".

"The move I'm talking about has the possibility of getting them out," he says.

Families of hostages held in Gaza have decried the government's plan to expand its offensive and thousands have protested against the new military objectives.

Netanyahu is asked two questions by journalists - the first is why he is not allowing foreign journalists into Gaza.

He responds that a directive has been in place for two days which tells the military to bring in foreign journalists. He explains there are security issues, but adds "I think it can be done".

The second question relates to Trump's comments on starvation in Gaza. The prime minister says that he appreciates the US president's support.

He adds that Trump has said two things - that all 20 hostages should be released, and that Hamas should not be there. Netanyahu adds that Trump recognises the fact that the deprivation in Gaza has been caused by Hamas.

The UK, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia have just delivered a joint statement condemning Israel's decision to expand operations in Gaza. They call for the plan to be reversed ahead of today's UN Security Council meeting, which is due to start shortly.

"This plan risks violating international humanitarian law," the European countries say.

"The Security Council has consistently called for the unconditional and immediate release of the hostages.

"And we are clear that Hamas must disarm and play no future part in the governance of Gaza, where the Palestinian Authority must have a central role. But this decision by the Israeli Government will do nothing to secure the return of the hostages and risks further endangering their lives."

The statement also calls for Israel to lift restrictions on aid deliveries. Israel has maintained that there are no restrictions on aid into Gaza.

Netanyahu says that the international press have bought into what he describes as Hamas propaganda "hook line and sinker".

He shows photos of malnourished children that have run on newspaper front pages around the world - the front pages have labels added onto them that say "fake".

Netanyahu says the government is pursuing a suit against the New York Times for using an image of a starving child on their front page who also had underlying health issues. Netanyahu says that the child's mother and brother are healthy and alleges the newspaper buried a correction.

He decries the press coverage of starvation in Gaza and compares it to the "malignant lies that were told about the Jewish people in the Middle Ages."

There is significant and mounting evidence of widespread hunger in Gaza, as the Hamas-run health ministry says at least 100 children have died of malnutrition since the war began.

Netanyahu turns now to the hostages - he says they are the only ones being "deliberately starved" in Gaza.

He reiterates the purpose of the conference today is to "puncture lies" as he refers to distortion "propelled around the earth".

The prime minister then turns to antisemitism, saying that "every massacre of the Jewish people was proceeded by massive vilification."

Netanyahu is again pointing at Hamas as the cause of the aid crisis in Gaza, saying that the organisation has stolen aid destined for civilians.

He shows an image of what he says are tonnes of uncollected aid in Gaza, that Israel allowed in via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Netanyahu says there is a three-step plan to tackle this, including designating safe corridors for humanitarian aid distribution, increasing the number of safe distribution points managed by the Gazan Humanitarian Foundation, and more air drops by Israeli forces and other partners.

Netanyahu says Israel will enable the civilian population to safely leave combat areas to designated safe zones.

They will be given food, water and medical care "as we've done before", the prime minister says, adding Israel's goal is to avoid a humanitarian crisis.

He says that "hundreds of trucks have gone into Gaza".

If Israel was implementing "a starvation policy", he says, "no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war." He adds that Israel has sent and made millions of texts and phone calls to tell civilians get out of harm's way.

The Israeli prime minister now tells the press that Israel has "no choice" but to "finish the job" and "defeat" Hamas.

He says that 70-75% Gaza is under Israeli military control, but says that Hamas has two remaining strongholds. One is Gaza City, he says, and the "central camps" are the other.

On Friday, the Israeli security cabinet instructed the IDF to "dismantle" those two strongholds.

He says this is the "best way" to end the war. He adds that Israel will allow civilians to go to designated safe zones where they will have "ample" food, security and medical care.

Netanyahu says that Gaza will be demilitarised and outlines the Israel's five principles to conclude the war.

He says these are:

• The disarmament of Hamas
• Return of all hostages
• Demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip
• Israel taking "overriding security control" in the Strip
• Establishment of an "alternative civil administration" that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority

Gazans are "begging us and begging the world" to be freed from Hamas, Netanyahu says.

The prime minister says that Hamas is a "genocidal organisation" and adds that no nation would put up with having an entity "committed to its annihilation a stone's throw away from its border."

Israel's goal is not to occupy Gaza, but to free it, he says. The war can end if Hamas frees the hostages and agrees to put down its arms.

Netanyahu starts by saying he wants to take this opportunity to "puncture the lies" and tell the truth.

He says Hamas still has "thousands of armed terrorists" in Gaza and says their goal is to "destroy" the state of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just started speaking.

He'll delivery a short statement, with a question and answer session with reporters to follow.

As a reminder, he is holding this press conference ahead of an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Israel's plans to expand its military presence in Gaza.

We will bring the key lines for you here - but you can also follow along yourself by clicking watch live above.

Image source, Reuters

Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the media shortly.

He is expected to begin speaking at 16:30 local time (14:30 BST). We will bring you the key lines in this page, but you can also follow along by clicking watch live at the top of this page.

Israel to unfold new cycle of misery on Palestinianspublished at 14:13 British Summer Time

14:13 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images

News of the Israeli government's decision to take over Gaza City is being met not surprisingly with despair in Gaza. Gaza City, its capital, is on a countdown to oblivion.

Assuming that Hamas does not capitulate in the coming weeks – and there are currently few signs of this happening – then the Israeli military is set to embark on a devastating new phase of the war.

For Gaza City, where an estimated one million civilians still live, the prospects are bleak.

Hundreds of thousands are people who were forced to flee during the early months of the war but who returned in January when a ceasefire raised hopes of an end to the fighting.

They spent more than a year away from their homes, driven from one location to another, living in increasingly desperate conditions.

When they returned to the north, many found their homes destroyed and their neighbourhoods erased. But they settled down where they could, believing the war might finally be over.

But life in the city, hard enough already, deteriorated rapidly after Israel broke the ceasefire in mid-March and cut off aid supplies, triggering the worst humanitarian crisis of the conflict.

Now it seems a new cycle is about to unfold.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Israel's plan to expand its military operations into Gaza City has sparked international criticism, including from Israel's allies.

Here's a brief look back at what we've heard:

United Nations' human rights chief Volker Türk warned the Israeli plans would cause “more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering" in Gaza.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the decision "must be reconsidered", while president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas described the move as a "fully-fledged crime".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would suspend the export of arms to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the decision "wrong", adding it would "only bring more bloodshed".

In Israel, hostages' families said the plan is "endangering the hostages" in Gaza, while thousands have protested the decision to expand the war.

Arab nations including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia also condemned the proposals, describing the "persistence" as "ethnic cleansing".

China's foreign ministry said "Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory", and called for an immediate ceasefire.

During a trip to the UK, US Vice-President JD Vance said the Trump administration wanted to see Hamas eradicated so Israeli civilians were not attacked again, but also to solve the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

Image source, Reuters

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported five further malnutrition deaths in the last 24 hours - two of them children.

According to the ministry's statistics, that takes the total death toll from malnutrition to 217, including 100 children.

UN-backed global food security experts warned last month the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in the Gaza Strip.

At the start of March, Israel placed a total blockade on aid to Gaza which was partially eased after 11 weeks. In May, the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US, began aid distribution at four points in the Strip.

Earlier this month the UN reported that at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food since late May. Of those, 859 were killed near GHF sites and 514 along routes used by aid convoys. GHF has denied the UN's figure.

Israel previously insisted there are no restrictions on aid deliveries, instead blaming the UN and humanitarian organisations for not properly distributing it and Hamas for stealing it. Israel has also said there is no starvation in Gaza, despite evidence of widespread hunger, malnutrition and disease.

Image source, Getty Images

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Israel to oppose the government's newly announced plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters, including family members of 50 hostages in Gaza - 20 of whom are still thought to be alive - fear the plan puts the lives of hostages at risk, and urged the government to secure their release.

Israeli leaders have rejected criticism of their plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying "this will help free our hostages".

A group representing families of the hostages said on X: "Expanding the fighting endangers the hostages and the soldiers - the people of Israel are not willing to risk them!"

Among the protesters in Jerusalem was former soldier Max Kresch who said he is now refusing to serve.

"We're over 350 soldiers who served during the war and we're refusing to continue to serve in Netanyahu's political war that endangers the hostages (and) starving innocent Palestinians in Gaza," he said.

Israeli leaders have rejected criticism of their plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying "this will help free our hostages".

• You can read more here about protests intensifying in Israel