Israel’s security cabinet early Friday approved a plan to seize Gaza City, marking the most significant expansion of its 22-month war against Hamas since it re-entered the enclave in 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation, due to begin before 7 October, would put Israeli forces in full control of the territory’s largest population centre while leaving civilian governance to a body ‘neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority’. The move drew blunt criticism from London. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the escalation “wrong” and warned it “will only bring more bloodshed”. In a statement he urged Israel to reconsider immediately, pressed for a cease-fire, a surge in humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages, and reaffirmed Britain’s backing for a negotiated two-state solution with Hamas excluded from Gaza’s future administration. Starmer’s condemnation was echoed in The Hague, where Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot said the plan “will not improve the humanitarian situation or help return the hostages” and insisted that “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians”. Australia and UN officials issued similar warnings, citing the risk of worsening civilian suffering and jeopardising negotiations for the roughly 50 hostages still held in the enclave. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 60,000 people have been killed in Israeli operations since October 2023, while the UN estimates 87 percent of the strip is now either under evacuation orders or designated combat zones. Israel argues the new offensive is necessary to dismantle Hamas, yet its own military chief has cautioned the cabinet about humanitarian and strategic repercussions. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision “a disaster” that ignores military advice and endangers the remaining captives.