Jon Donnison
Reporting from Jerusalem

There are reports of real disagreement and opposition from the top ranks of the Israeli military for this proposed operation.

This week we’ve had 600 former national security officials coming out and saying it was time to end the war in a plea to President Trump to put pressure to stop the fighting.

They’re basically saying that the idea of occupying Gaza, getting bogged down in a likely hostile, insurgency-type situation is just counterproductive, damaging for Israel’s international reputation and with no real long-term plan.

But as has been the course throughout the course of this war, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems determined to go his own way and he believes Hamas needs to be finished off.

Image source, PFA

The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has announced footballer Suleiman al-Obeid was killed in an Israeli attack while waiting for humanitarian aid on Wednesday.

The 41-year-old was born in Gaza City and was dubbed the "Pele of Palestinian football", according to the statement.

Playing for the national team, he appeared in 24 international matches, scoring twice, the PFA says.

Throughout his career he scored 100 times, and the PFA describes him as "one of the brightest stars of Palestinian football" - a sentiment shared by French football icon Eric Cantona, who also shared the news of Obeid's death on his social media.

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.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been speaking to Fox News, telling them that he doesn't want to keep total control of Gaza indefinitely.

Instead, he says he wants to hand the territory over to "Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life", which he says is "not possible with Hamas".

The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, says Netanyahu is being "intentionally vague" over who these "Arab forces" may be - as he has been in the past with his plans for Gaza.

She says the only plan he has really shown any enthusiasm for was US President Donald Trump's idea for a "Riviera of the Middle East".

“If Arab forces refer to Jordanians or Egyptians - they from the beginning have said they are willing to work with Israel - but they have made it clear that they will not go into Gaza on the back of an Israeli occupation," Lyse Doucet says.

Ghada Al Kurd, a Palestinian journalist in Gaza City, tells Radio 4's PM programme that Israeli plans to occupy the whole of Gaza will leave people with "no choice" and "no place to go".

"This is something [that] is unbelievable for us - that they would force us again to evacuate to unknown places," she says.

The journalist, who lives with her daughters, brother and uncle, says most of the Gaza Strip has been "completely destroyed", adding that people are "suffering from starvation" and are too weak to walk.

Asked what she will do if ordered to evacuate, she says "we don't have any choice" and if Israel occupies Gaza, it will be through military operations and bombing.

"I think we will have to leave just to save our lives, but where to go, how to go?" she asks.

When asked if there is a Hamas presence in Gaza City, Al Kurd says she cannot deny that the group still has "influence on the ground".

The Israeli security cabinet has been gathered inside its Jerusalem office for hours now, as Benjamin Netanyahu discusses his proposals for occupying Gaza.

Outside, a group of protesters and the families of hostages remain.

They are there calling for the return of their loved ones, who were taken by Hamas.

Image source, Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Shaina Low, from the Norwegian Refugee Council, tells the BBC News Channel that escalating military operations in Gaza City would be "devastating".

There's an estimated one million people currently living in the city, including many who have been displaced.

"There's no space in Gaza. People are exhausted, they simply do not have the energy or the space to move," she says.

"People do not have supplies where they are told to go. They are not given time or adequate safe passage to reach where they need to go."

Raffi Berg
Middle East digital editor

Image source, Reuters

The Israeli military says it currently controls about 75% of Gaza - territory containing most of the almost entirely displaced population of 2.1 million. These areas are mostly in the north and south.

Full military occupation would require sending in tens of thousands more troops to take over the rest of Gaza, including the coastal strip, the central region and the capital, Gaza City.

The coast includes al-Mawasi - an Israel-designated civilian "safe zone" where up to about half a million Palestinians are sheltering in overcrowded and harsh conditions. Military action in more areas would inevitably uproot many more Palestinians.

It would also involve pushing into remaining Hamas strongholds, including areas where hostages are believed to be held.

Families fear this could increase the chance that hostages will be killed by their captors. Last August six hostages were found killed, believed to have been shot shortly before the IDF reached their location.

As far as the UN is concerned, Gaza was already under Israeli occupation, even without a military presence on the ground, before the invasion which followed Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

It says the occupation began in 1967 and did not end when Israel pulled all its troops and settlers out of the territory in 2005, because Israel kept control over Gaza's air space, coastal waters and shared border.

Image source, EPA

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.

Expansion of military operations likely to see criticism at home and abroadpublished at 19:42 British Summer Time 7 August

19:42 BST 7 August

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem

Polls suggest the vast majority of the Israeli public favour a deal with Hamas for the release of the hostages and the end of the war. Israeli leaders say Hamas, now, is not interested in negotiating as, in their view, the group is feeling emboldened by the international pressure on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The threat of a full occupation could be part of a strategy to try to force the group into making concessions in stalled talks.

But many here believe that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict to guarantee the survival of his coalition, which relies on the support of ultranationalist ministers who have threatened to quit the government if there is any deal with Hamas.

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have publicly defended expelling Palestinians from Gaza - which could amount to the forced displacement of civilians, a war crime - and resettling it with Jews.

It is not clear if full occupation means a short-term operation or a long-term takeover. But any expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza is likely to be heavily criticised internationally and further isolate the country.

Image source, Reuters

We're hearing more now from the interview between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Fox News.

Netanyahu tells the news channel that Israel has three missions when it comes to Gaza.

The first is to eliminate Hamas as a "governing and military power in Gaza".

Secondly they want to secure the release of all hostages, and thirdly ensure that Gaza "doesn't pose a threat to Israel again", Netanyahu explains.

"We're well on our way," he says.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "planning to continue his approach of genocide and displacement by committing more crimes" against Palestinian people, Hamas says in response to his proposal of taking over the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Palestinian armed group says the Israeli prime minister's actions "represent a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and clearly reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round".

They add that they were in "close proximity" to a final agreement.

Hamas says the proposed action means Netanyahu is willing to "sacrifice" the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, and serve "his personal interests".

They warn against attempting to occupy Gaza, and say the "price will be high".

Hamas also calls on Arab and Islamic countries, as well as the international community, "to condemn and reject these dangerous statements, and to take urgent action to halt the aggression and end the occupation".

As we've been reporting, Benjamin Netanyahu is currently in a security cabinet meeting, to discuss his plans for a complete military takeover of Gaza.

The Israeli military says it already has operational control of 75% of the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reported plan would see Israel's military move to occupy the entire territory – going into areas where more than two million Palestinians are now concentrated.

The Israeli military has previously held back from some areas, including parts of central Gaza, because of an assumption that there are living hostages held there.

Some 87% of Gaza is under Israeli military control or subject to evacuation orders, according to the UN.

Image source, Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The US ambassador to Israel says it's up to the Israeli government to decide if they want to annex the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to CBS News, the BBC's US news partner, Mike Huckabee says it isn't their job to "tell them what they should or should not do".

"Certainly, if they ask for wisdom, counsel, advice, I'm sure the president would offer it. But ultimately, it's the decision that the Israelis and only the Israelis can make."

He adds that people in Gaza "shouldn't be forced out".

When asked what advice President Trump might offer, Huckabee says: "I remember him saying that, 'I know what I would do, but I'm not sure anybody else would do it.' I think we got the inference of: It would not be good for Hamas."

On ceasefire negotiations, Huckabee says they have "broken down completely because Hamas is not serious about negotiating".

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avichay Adraee is calling on Palestinians in the al-Daraj and al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City's old town to "evacuate immediately".

"The IDF continues to operate with great force wherever terrorist activity is carried out and rockets are fired towards Israel," he writes on X.

People are advised to move towards the Bedouin coastal town of al-Mawasi - an Israel-designated civilian "safe zone" where up to about half a million Palestinians are sheltering in overcrowded and harsh conditions.

We can now bring you pictures of families and supporters of the hostages protesting outside Benjamin Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem.

Demonstrators are calling for the release of all hostages still held in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli cabinet meets to discuss military plans in the Palestinian territory.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

The Israeli military has just issued an update saying 80 packages of humantarian aid have been air dropped into Gaza by five different countries.

It says the packages were coordinated with the UAE, Germany, Jordan, Belgium and Canada.

"The IDF will continue to work to improve the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with the international community, while refuting the false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza," the update says.

As a reminder, aid agencies have consistently warned that air drops into Gaza are nowhere near sufficient to cover the amount of aid needed to tackle the spread of malnutrition and lack of other vital resources, like fuel and medical supplies.

A doctor working in Gaza for the medical aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says any intensification of hostilities would make their work "extremely difficult, if not impossible".

"It seems unfathomable to me that we have to imagine a situation that can get even worse than the total apocalypse we find ourselves in already," Caroline Willeman tells the BBC News channel.

Willeman, who has been working for MSF in Gaza for six weeks, says she thought the crisis in Gaza was "dystopian" from day one - and it has worsened since.

Watch her interview below.

Israeli air defences have intercepted a rocket fired from northern Gaza, according to an update from the Israeli military.

No casualties have been reported.

Image source, Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid says Netanyahu's proposal to take full control of Gaza is a proposal for "another war" and "more dead hostages".

He adds in a post on X that it will cost "tens of billions of shekels from taxpayers".