Summary

  • Israel's defence minster rejects international criticism of a plan to take over Gaza City, saying it "will not weaken our resolve"

  • Israel Katz says the government is "determined to achieve the goals of the war" and the Israel Defense Forces is preparing to implement the plan

  • The escalation has drawn criticism from the UN and several world leaders, including from the UK and Germany - the latter has suspended Gaza-bound military exports to Israel

  • Hamas, meanwhile, has vowed "fierce resistance"

  • In Gaza, Palestinians fear more destruction and displacement - many are angry not only at Israel but also at Hamas

  • An emboldened Benjamin Netanyahu now seems ready to take risks - and the prospects for Gaza City's one million civilians are bleak, writes Paul Adams

  • The Israeli government does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report freely

'A death sentence for us all': Gazans' fears over takeover plan

Live Reporting

Edited by Tinshui Yeung and Rorey Bosotti

  1. Gazans say they fear displacement more than occupation

    Rushdi Abualouf
    BBC News Gaza correspondent

    The entire population of Gaza is now squeezed in three tiny bits of land in Gaza city, in the middle and in the south.

    What the people in Gaza fear the most is another displacement order. People in these parts of Gaza were displaced for more than a year.

    When people were forced to leave northern Gaza, things got much, much worse.

    Everybody I have spoken to is mentioning the displacement more than the occupation. The older generation experienced the full occupation of Gaza before 1994, so all eyes are on this meeting with the Israeli security cabinet.

  2. Hostages' families chain themselves outside cabinet meeting

    Six people (three men and three women) sitting on the ground with chains around them and their hands as a group of people holds up signs and placards behind themEPA

    As we reported earlier, families and supporters of the hostages are protesting against Israeli plans to takeover the Gaza Strip outside Benjamin Netanyahu's office while he meets with the cabinet in Jerusalem.

    Some of the demonstrators have chained themselves to each other outside the building as they warn escalating the fighting in Gaza "is a death sentence and immediate disappearance of our loved ones".

    "For a year and ten months we’ve been trying to believe that everything is being done to bring them back - you have failed," says Anat Angrest, the mother of hostage Matan Angrest.

    "Now it’s necessary to do the one thing the government hasn’t yet done - put a comprehensive deal on the table that will bring them all home together."

    Angrest, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, was on duty during the 7 October attacks and is presumed to be in Gaza.