Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled a plan to take control of Gaza City, calling it “the best way to end the war.” The document, already approved by the security cabinet, has drawn sharp criticism from the UN, international partners, and the families of Israeli hostages. Senior UN officials have warned that implementing the plan could trigger another humanitarian disaster in Gaza, where, they say, “famine in its purest form” is already taking hold. Despite the criticism, the United States backed Israel, while the United Kingdom, Algeria, and other countries warned of the risk of further bloodshed.
Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plan to take control of Gaza City, despite widespread international criticism and warnings from senior UN officials of the risk of “another disaster” for the territory, where “famine in its purest form” is already unfolding.
At a rare press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said the plan—approved last week by the security cabinet and criticized both domestically and abroad—was “the best way to end the war, and to end it quickly.”
Yet during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York over the weekend, repeated warnings were voiced that such a move would not end the 22-month conflict but would instead deepen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
“If these plans are implemented, they will likely lead to another catastrophe in Gaza, reverberate across the region, and cause further forced displacement, loss of life, and destruction,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča.
Amid the heated debate, Gaza’s health ministry reported five new deaths linked to malnutrition, including two children. According to the ministry, the number of child deaths from hunger has reached 100, and including adults, the total stands at 217.
Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the Coordination Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council: “This is no longer an impending famine crisis — this is famine in its purest form.”
Protesters outside the UN headquarters in New York during an emergency Security Council meeting on the situation in Gaza. August 10, 2025.
Israel has imposed a blockade and restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the enclave, but at the press conference Netanyahu called “completely false” claims that his government was pursuing a “policy of starvation.” He acknowledged the presence of hunger and problems in the food distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF), backed by the United States and Israel, but accused the media of spreading “lies” about the scale of the crisis.
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Just hours before Netanyahu’s remarks, at least 26 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid were killed in Gaza, according to hospitals and witnesses. Among them were 15 people shot while waiting for food trucks near the newly built Morag corridor, which separates the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital reported. Another six were killed in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing, according to the enclave’s health ministry and Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
According to the UN, more than 1 370 Palestinians have been killed since May 27 while trying to obtain food. Netanyahu declined to take responsibility, claiming without evidence that “a lot of the firing was done by Hamas.” The Israeli military routinely accuses Hamas of stealing aid, though the European Commission has found no reports of such incidents.
Since October 7, 2023—when Hamas militants killed about 1 200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took more than 250 hostages—international journalists have been barred from entering Gaza, except for brief, tightly controlled visits embedded with Israeli forces.
Families of hostages have also criticized Netanyahu’s plan, with many joining tens of thousands of people who marched to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Saturday. The plan has created a rift between the prime minister and the military leadership, but it has faced no objections from the administration of Donald Trump, Israel’s main ally.
Israel says Hamas retains two strongholds in Gaza—one in Gaza City and another in the central Al-Mawasi camps. “About 70–75% of Gaza is under Israeli military control. But we have two remaining strongholds—Gaza and the central camps in Al-Mawasi,” Netanyahu said. According to him, Hamas’s refusal to lay down arms leaves Israel “only one choice—to finish the job and completely defeat Hamas.” The prime minister added that the operation would begin “fairly soon.” Hamas, for its part, says it will not disarm until an independent Palestinian state is established.
Netanyahu accused his opponents of waging “a global campaign of lies” and stressed: “We will win this war—with or without support.”
The United Kingdom, while remaining an ally of Israel, joined other countries in convening the emergency Security Council meeting and warned that Netanyahu’s plan “threatens to prolong the conflict.” “It will only deepen the suffering of Gaza’s civilians. This is not a path to resolution—it is a path to more bloodshed,” said UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN James Kariuki.
Algeria’s Permanent Representative Amar Bendjama called for sanctions against Israel: “It is time to impose sanctions on the enemy of humanity.” Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour added: “If this were another country, you would have imposed sanctions long ago.”
The United States, which holds veto power in the Security Council, backed Israel and accused supporters of the meeting of “deliberately prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel.” “Israel has the right to determine what measures are necessary for its security and to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas,” said US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 61 000 Palestinians, most of them civilians. The figure does not include thousands believed to be buried under rubble or those who have died indirectly as a result of the war. Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Jonathan Miller said: “Pressure should not be placed on Israel, which has suffered the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, but on Hamas.”