Tinshui Yeung
Live page editor

Image source, EPA

A fresh shockwave has rippled through the international community after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for the military to take over Gaza City.

Hamas says it is ready for a "comprehensive deal" on hostages and a ceasefire, but has also warned of "fierce resistance" against Israel's move.

People in Gaza are angry - some at Israel for continuing the offensive, others at Hamas for not releasing the hostages. One Gaza City resident, worried about the Israeli takeover, told the BBC: "I don’t know where to go. Where should we go to?"

Several international leaders have also criticised the plans. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the move "wrong", while Germany - the second biggest exporter of arms to Israel after the US - says it will stop sending military equipment that could be used in Gaza.

Despite the criticism, Israel has not backed down. Benjamin Netanyahu has "expressed his disappointment" at Germany’s decision, accusing Berlin of "rewarding Hamas terrorism". Israel’s defence minister says critics won’t "weaken our resolve" to defeat Hamas.

Tomorrow, the United Nations Security Council will hold an urgent meeting in New York as questions remain about the plan - including when the takeover will begin and what happens next.

No one has the answers, but our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet writes: "It’s widely expected that it’s just the first step as Netanyahu flies in the face of opposition from his current and former commanders, the polls, and anguished hostage families."

We’re ending our live coverage here. You can find a full write-up of the situation on our website, take a look at our explainer on Israel's plan to take over Gaza City, and read analysis from our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams.

Thank you for joining us.

Let's take a look at pictures today from Gaza - where desperately needed aid is still being air dropped, and people are still taking shelter when buildings are struck.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

The general view is that Israel's Gaza City takeover plan is just the beginningpublished at 20:15 British Summer Time 8 August

20:15 BST 8 August

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

Whenever there’s been a critical decision about Israel’s next step in this grievous Gaza war, its security cabinet meetings have often gone long into the night.

Twenty-two months on, this last one dragged on for 10 hours. And it was very heated.

Israeli media are reporting angry exchanges between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the army chief he had picked and praised only months ago, over the new military plan the top commander strongly opposed.

It may explain why the plan which emerged was not what Netanyahu set out in an interview with Fox News which aired just before the meeting; Netanyahu spoke of taking over all of Gaza, at least for now.

Now the focus is a “takeover of Gaza City,” the main city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living, in increasingly desperate conditions.

It doesn’t use the word “occupation” but that’s how it’s being widely viewed.

And it’s widely expected that its just the first step as Netanyahu flies in the face of opposition from his current and former commanders, the polls, and anguished hostage families. And global leaders, one country after another - including strong allies like Germany – are saying: "Don't do it."

Some fresh remarks to bring you from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who says talks with Hamas "fell apart" on the day French President Emmanuel Macron said France would officially recognise a Palestinian state in September.

Speaking to Raymond Arroyo on Global Catholic TV's The World Over, Rubio said: "So those messages, while largely symbolic in their minds, actually have made it harder to get peace and harder to achieve a deal with Hamas."

As a reminder, last month Macron urged an end to the war in Gaza as he wrote on X: "True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine."

This decision was condemned by the US and Israel at the time.

Sir Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador, says he doesn't think Benjamin Netanyahu will be affected by European criticism of his plans.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he says it is "shameful" that Europe chooses "merely mouthed words and some very mild actions, always too little and too late".

"The UK and others come across as not standing for anything real in the world of international law and human rights," he adds.

The British government is not reflecting the increasing disgust of the public at the state policy of Israel and the brutality of the IDF, Dalton says.

Gaza city residents face another migration southpublished at 19:34 British Summer Time 8 August

19:34 BST 8 August

By Paul Brown

In some ways, Gaza City residents face a repeat of the early stages of the war, when Israel ordered a mass migration south after the 7 October 2023 attacks.

But Gaza is a very different place today, and the journey will be more dangerous.

In 2023, one of the main routes south was Salah al-Din road - Gaza's main road which runs north to south.

Satellite imagery at the time showed large groups of people traveling south along it.

But now, the road lies within an IDF-designated “dangerous combat zone.”

Image source, Getty Images

That leaves the al-Rashid coastal road, which will direct people towards the al-Mawasi area - once designated “humanitarian zone” by the IDF but, as previously identified by BBC Verify, was struck nearly 100 times by January 2025.

The area is already heavily crowded and to get there, travellers will also need to cross the militarised Netzarim Corridor built by the IDF to split the territory in two.

How any evacuation will be managed is unclear, and fuel shortages mean they may have to walk or use carts.

Image source, Reuters

US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's response to Israel's plan to take over Gaza City.

Earlier, Starmer said Israel's decision to step up its offensive is "wrong" and will "bring more bloodshed". He also called for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid.

Responding to Starmer's comments, Huckabee writes on X: "So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas and feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?"

In another post on social media, Huckabee asks how much aid the UK has sent to Gaza, before adding: "Maybe UK PM ought to sit this one out and follow Arab League who said Hamas should disarm & release all hostages immediately."

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli ambassador to the UN has questioned how other countries would respond to an attack and hostage-taking situation in response to the urgent UN Security Council meeting tomorrow.

The emergency meeting was called at the instigation of Britain after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to take over Gaza City.

"On October 7, the terrorist organisation Hamas kidnapped British citizens, along with hundreds of Israelis. If fifty British citizens were being held in Gaza by terrorists today, the British government would not sit idly by either," ambassador Danny Danon says.

"The State of Israel will not stop fighting for the release of all the hostages — and ensuring the safety and security of our citizens is our duty."

Image source, Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's "expressed his disappointment" with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, after Germany said it would suspend military exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza.

Netanyahu's office says Germany is "rewarding Hamas terrorism" instead of supporting Israel's war against Hamas.

Between Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023 and mid-May 2025, Germany approved military equipment exports to Israel worth €485m (£421m), according to a parliamentary answer in June.

Image source, Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Families of hostages still held by Hamas, along with released survivors who have come together as the pressure group Hostages and Missing Families Forum, are holding a Kabbalat Shabbat - a service to welcome Shabbat - outside the home of Israeli defence minister Israel Katz.

The group has held Kabbalat Shabbat in different locations on Fridays regularly since the 7 October attack, leaving empty places at the tables for the missing hostages.

They posted pictures of the event on social media, along with the message: "We demand that the government now listen to the will of the people - until all the hostages return, we will not have a real Shabbat meal."

Image source, Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Image source, Getty Images

Israel's defence minister has hit back at countries that "condemn and threaten sanctions" over Israel's plans to take control of Gaza.

Writing on X, Israel Katz says critics won't "weaken our resolve" to defeat Hamas, insisting the Palestinian armed group "still poses a threat to Israel's security".

"Gone are the days when Jews did not defend themselves," Katz says. "This is the time for leadership to make decisions.

"We must be worthy of our heroic soldiers, regular and reserve, who are fighting in the Gaza tunnels against the monsters of Hamas, for the families of the kidnapped who are awaiting their loved ones, for the families of the martyrs who gave their lives for the sanctity of God, and for all the wounded who fought like lions to defend the homeland."

Image source, EPA

All members of the UN Security Council - except the US and Panama - have asked for an emergency meeting after Israel announced plans to take control of Gaza City.

The council will now hold an urgent meeting tomorrow at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT) in New York.

A spokesperson for the UN secretary general says António Guterres is gravely alarmed by the Israeli government's decision to "take control of Gaza City".

It "marks a dangerous escalation and risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians", the spokesperson says.

As we've just reported, Hamas says it's ready for a "comprehensive deal" to release the hostages, in exchange for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

On the Israeli side, earlier the prime minister's office has set out the following "principles for ending the war", which have been agreed by Israel's security cabinet.

They are:

1. Disarmament of Hamas
2. Return of all hostages - both living and dead
3. Demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip
4. Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip
5. The existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority

Hamas has released another statement in response to Israel's plans.

It says it has "offered all flexibility" through the mediation process and is ready for a "comprehensive deal" to release the hostages, in return for a ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The group warns Israel that any takeover of Gaza City will come at a "heavy price" - a message it is repeating.

Talks between the two sides - mediated by Egypt and Qatar - have not made any substantive progress since the end of July, when Israel and the US said Hamas showed a "lack of desire" and the US team withdrew.

"Any expansion of military operations throughout the Gaza Strip would risk catastrophic consequences," a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells BBC Radio 5 Live.

Olga Cherevko, who is based in Deir Al Balah in Gaza, says: "The entire population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and already been enduring nearly two years of brutal war."

She says even UN staff are affected by the lack of food. "I have colleagues in my office who have been hospitalised by severe exhaustion because they’re not eating. We have colleagues fainting in the office because they cannot get food."

Cherevko repeats the UN's call for the release of hostages and for a ceasefire.

Image source, EPA

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say 72 aid packages have been air dropped across Gaza by six different countries.

This includes the Netherlands, it says in an update on X.

Since July 27, when Israel resumed allowing the air drops, the IDF says more than 1,000 aid packages have been airdropped in Gaza by nine different countries.

The military adds that it refutes the "false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza".

Humanitarian agencies have warned that air drops are not enough to help, and the packages often land far away from the people who need them.

More than 100 international aid organisations and human rights groups have warned of mass starvation in the Strip.

The level of starvation is just catastrophic, says US doctor Mark Brauner, who has just returned from Gaza.

Young children "become delirious, they have hallucinations... they essentially become almost like zombies", he tells the BBC News Channel.

Babies under six months haven't developed a full immune system yet, Brauner explains, "so [they] start to get infections of every type you can imagine", while the "gut lining starts to autodigest" because of severe protein and carbohydrate malnutrition.

Brauner believes there are thousands of children who have crossed the tipping point, where they're beyond medical intervention.

On Friday, the Hamas-run health ministry put the total number of deaths from malnutrition since the beginning of the war at 201, including 98 children.

Brauner thinks these figures are being underestimated.

"There are so many people that are so destroyed that they're just lying in their tents, they're completely isolated and we have no idea about them," he says.

Israel's plan means more misery for Palestinians and big risk for Netanyahupublished at 17:04 British Summer Time 8 August

17:04 BST 8 August

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

For Gaza City, where an estimated one million civilians still live, the prospects are bleak. The Israeli government is once again going to attempt to force Gaza City's entire population to move south, a process which reports suggest could be completed in two months.

Expect to see curfews, evacuation orders and convoys of exhausted civilians on the road once more.

Much of the world is looking on in horror. Israel's diplomatic isolation looks set to deepen. Netanyahu's conquest of Gaza could even test the patience of his loyal ally in the White House.

But after defeating Hezbollah in Lebanon, helping to bring about the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and delivering a devastating set of blows against its arch enemy Iran, Israel has confirmed its status as a regional superpower, capable of taking on and defeating multiple enemies.

After the brutal humiliation inflicted by Hamas in October 2023, Netanyahu now seems emboldened and ready to take risks.

Who, he may be wondering, is going to stop him?

• Read more here

"People here are so confused," says Aseel Ghaben, a freelance journalist living in Gaza City.

She tells the BBC News Channel about the "mix of feeling" between the "happiness" of yesterday, when the Israeli military allowed aid lorries into the city, and now the "sense of fear, the sense of the unknown" after confirmation of Israel's planned takeover.

"I'm not thinking about leaving at the beginning of the operation," Aseel says, despite the expansion of the military offensive.

"Leaving my house, leaving my life, is not that easy for me."

Just days ago, Aseel lost her sister, who was hit by a quadcopter bullet.

"I know it's so dangerous for me... I'm living in fear for my family."

But she says her attitude echoes the feelings of many: "When you leave your house you go to unknown destination, you have to build a new life in tents... some people I know say we want to die in our houses under dignity rather than lead a humiliating life."

"Maybe there will be a miracle, I don't know."

Abu Mustafa says evacuation in Gaza isn't easy.

"You carry your things and leave with nothing," the Gazan tells Palestinian journalists working with the BBC. "This has become a game for the Israelis. They’ve turned evacuation into a game."

Mustafa says he has got property and warehouses in the Strip, and asks how Israel can "just take over" his land.

"I’m a civilian who has worked hard all my life. It is a crime against all of humanity to take over someone’s land, and force them out, and leave them as if they were born today."

Mustafa says he will stay where he is.

"Where would I go?" he asks.