A top UN official has warned that expanding Israeli military operations inside Gaza risks "catastrophic consequences," as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly considered total occupation of the Palestinian territory.
A widening of the war "would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza," UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča said at a Security Council meeting.
"There is no military solution to the conflict in Gaza or the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Mr Jenča said.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli cabinet is set to convene tomorrow at 6pm (8pm Irish time) as Israel considers a full Gaza takeover.
Mr Netanyahu favours a complete military takeover of Gaza for the first time in two decades, it added.
As pressure built inside the United Nations on Israel over the starvation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, Israel requested an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the plight of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
At the meeting, Israel and the United States rebuked UN members for recognising Palestine and for attending a conference last week on the two-state solution.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar travelled to New York to address the Council, telling reporters he had come to "put the issue of the hostages front and centre on the world stage".
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It follows the recent release of video footage of two Israeli hostages.
Last Thursday, Palestinian Islamic Jihad published video footage of Rom Braslavski, showing him emaciated and in tears.
On Saturday, Hamas released a video of another emaciated hostage, Evyatar David, digging what appeared to be his own grave.
Excerpts of that video are currently being screened by the Israeli Consulate on a giant digital billboard in New York’s Times Square.
Both men were abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 during the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
Mr David’s older brother Ilay David addressed the Security Council via videolink. He said his brother was "a living skeleton," enduring an "unimaginable nightmare".
Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Foreign Minister Sa’ar described the captivity of hostages by militants as "satanic".
He criticised member states of the United Nations for putting pressure on Israel and for announcing their intention to recognise the State of Palestine.
"They gave Hamas free gifts and an incentive to continue this war," he said.
Plans to recognise Palestine
Last week France, UK and Canada - major G7 powers - announced plans to recognise Palestine.
Echoing Israel, the United States made a direct appeal to the international community to ease pressure on its ally.
"The footage of these two young men, tormented, starved, emaciated is not only a reminder of the evil that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad represent, it also makes more clear than ever that the Security Council and the international community must stop pressuring Israel and instead impose maximum pressure on Hamas to immediately release all 50 hostages that they continue to hold captive," the acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the Security Council.
She called announcements to recognise the State of Palestine and last week’s two-state solution conference "publicity stunts".
Other council members delivered condemnations of Hamas over the October 7th attacks and called for the unconditional release of hostages.
Several, however, called Israel’s response "disproportionate".
Much of the meeting’s discussion focused on the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian civilians including famine conditions.
"Israel continues to severely restrict humanitarian assistance entering Gaza, and the aid that is permitted to enter is grossly inadequate," said Mr Jenca.
Hunger is everywhere in Gaza, visible in the faces of children and in the desperation of parents risking their lives to access the most basic supplies".
Mr Jenca also addressed reports that emerged earlier, indicating Israel’s government was considering re-occupation of Gaza, calling them "deeply alarming".
"This would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza".
Mediation between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas has collapsed despite intense international pressure for a ceasefire to ease hunger and appalling conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Eight more people died of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said, while another 68 died in the latest Israeli fire.
Mr Netanyahu was to meet Defence Minister Israel Katz and military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir to decide on a strategy to take to cabinet later this week, an Israeli official told Reuters. Strategic Affairs Minister Rob Dermer, a confidant of Mr Netanyahu, would also be present.
'Control of entire territory'
Israel's Channel 12, citing an official from Mr Netanyahu's office, said the prime minister was leaning towards taking control of the entire territory.
That would reverse a 2005 decision to pull settlers and military out of Gaza while retaining control over its borders, a move right-wing parties blame for Hamas gaining power there.
It was unclear, however, whether Mr Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged occupation or a short-term operation aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages. The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Channel 12 report.
A Palestinian official said it may be a tactic to pressure Hamas into concessions, while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged foreign nations to take heed of the reports.
"The ministry urges countries and the international community to treat these leaks with utmost seriousness and to intervene urgently to prevent their implementation, whether these leaks are meant to exert pressure, test international reactions, or are genuine and serious," it said.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel must "complete" the defeat of Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza.
"It is necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, to free all our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," Mr Netanyahu said during a visit to an army training facility.
Addressing a cabinet meeting with the war into its 22nd month, the Israeli leader told ministers that later in the week he would instruct the military on how "to achieve the three war objectives we have set".
Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 and the Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted officials in Mr Netanyahu's office saying that the "updated strategy" would be to re-occupy all of Gaza, including areas in Gaza City where the military believes hostages are being held.
However, the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry denounced what it called a "leaked" plan and urged the international community to intervene to quash any new military occupation.
Mr Netanyahu is facing mounting domestic and international pressure to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza home and allow much more aid into the starving territory.
Mr Netanyahu reiterated that Israel's three war goals remained "the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel".
His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince the Israeli prime minister to end the war.
Of the 251 hostages abducted during Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's campaign has forced nearly all of Gaza's over two million people from their homes and caused what a global hunger monitor called last week an "unfolding famine".
Some 188 Palestinians, including 94 children, have died from hunger since the war began, according to Gaza authorities.
An Israeli security official, in a briefing to reporters, acknowledged there may be hunger in some parts of Gaza but rejected reports of famine or starvation.
International anger at the suffering in Gaza has prompted several countries to recognise or announce their intention to recognise Palestine as an independent state.
Palestinians living in the last quarter of territory where Israel has not yet taken military control - via ground incursions or orders for civilians to leave - said any new push would be catastrophic.
"If the tanks pushed through, where would we go, into the sea? This will be like a death sentence to the entire population," said Abu Jehad, a Gaza wood merchant.
Gaza civil defence says Israeli attacks kill 68
Gaza's civil defence agency said 68 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes yesterday, including 56 who were waiting near aid distribution sites inside the Palestinian territory.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 30 people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army told AFP that troops "fired warning shots" in the direction "a gathering of Gazans advancing" towards them in the so-called Morag corridor in the south, but added it was "not aware of any casualties as a result".
Mr Bassal said another 20 people were killed and 100 wounded by Israeli fire near the Zikim border crossing in northern Gaza, through which some aid trucks have entered the territory in recent weeks.
An AFP journalist reported seeing at least a dozen bodies brought to northern Gaza's Hamad Hospital, where a medical source said the victims had been killed in the incident near Zikim.
The army told AFP it was looking into the details of the incident.
According to Mr Bassal, six more people were killed and 21 injured by Israeli fire in central Gaza while waiting for food near a distribution centre.
The Israeli army, however, denied having opened fire near any aid site in central Gaza.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence and the army.
Thousands of Gazans gather daily near food distribution points across Gaza, including four belonging to the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Since launching in late May, its operations have been marred by near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect rations.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies into Gaza since the start of the war nearly 22 months ago have led to shortages of food and essential goods, including medicine and fuel, which hospitals rely on to power their generators.
Mr Bassal said another five people were killed in a predawn air strike on a tent in Al-Mawasi in south Gaza, an area Israeli authorities designated as a safe zone early in the war.
"It's said to be a green zone and it's safe, but it's not. They also say that the aid (distribution) is safe, but people die while obtaining aid," said Adham Younes, 30, who lost a relative in the strike.
"There's no safety within the Gaza Strip, everyone is exposed to death, everyone is subject to injury," he said.
Mahmud Younes, who said he witnessed the strike, told AFP: "We found women screaming, they were covered in blood. The entire family has been injured."
Mr Bassal also reported six people killed in a strike near Gaza City, and one in another near Khan Yunis.
The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, said in a statement that they had bombarded an Israeli command-and-control centre in south Gaza's Israeli-controlled Morag corridor.
The Israeli army said it had no record of such an attack taking place.
Additional reporting AFP and Reuters
