Starmer condemns Israel's plan to take over Gaza City

Israel's plans to take over Gaza City are wrong and will only bring more bloodshed, Sir Keir Starmer said. After Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved the plans overnight by a majority vote, the prime minister urged the Israeli government to immediately reconsider its decision "to further escalate its offensive in Gaza. Netanyahu had earlier stated that he wanted to take over the entire Gaza strip, but the approved plan focuses on Gaza City, the country's largest city. The step has also prompted warnings from the army's top and family members of hostages detained in Gaza, who fear the assault will endanger the 20 captives who are believed to be alive.

Sir Keir said in a tweet that:

This will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help ensure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.

Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is getting worse and hostages taken by Hamas are held in appalling and inhuman conditions.

What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian assistance, the freeing of all hostages by Hamas, as well as a negotiated settlement. Hamas will play no part in Gaza's future, and they will leave as well as disarm.

Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both sides must take a step away from the path of destruction. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the proposals were completely abhorrent and that Netanyahu's] primary aim is ethnic cleansing and it'This scheme will only contribute to the destruction of millions of Gazans' lives and communities, which have already been destroyed,he said,while endangering the lives of those hostages still detained by Hamas.

The UK government must take decisive action rather than sitting on its hands and is issuing strongly worded sentences.

Keir Starmer must prevent all UK arms exports to Israel today" and punish Netanyahu and his cabinet.

It comes as Foreign Secretary David Lammy is set to speak with US Vice President JD Vance at his official country residence in Kent later today. Vance and his family are in the United Kingdom for a private family holiday. The pair are also scheduled to meet in the White HoUSe, where the White hoUSe says they will address

a variety of issues relating to the US-UK relationship. Last week, the United Kingdom announced last week that it would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes

substantive action to end the escalating situation in Gaza,

including agreeing to a ceasefire and promising to committing to a two-state solution. Israel had sluggishly condemned the step, saying that it

rewards Hamas' monstrous terrorism. It also puts the UK at odds with the United States, which, as Israel, has predicted that honoring Hamas would be recognized. While Lammy and Vance agree that Israel must open up humanitarian aid, they disagree on Israel's military conduct and what pressure it should face. However, Vance has said, "We've also got to wage war on Hamas so that those people can avoid preventing food from entering the country.

The United Nations has warned that a complete military takeover would have catastrophic consequences for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages detained in Gaza. Gaza's three-quarters are under Israeli military occupation, as well as almost all of the country's 2. In the quarter of the territory that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) does not control, 1 million people are resident. Netanyahu's office presented a five-point strategy for defeating Hamas and concluding the conflict in a tweet released on Friday morning.

The IDF will plan to seize Gaza City while still providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside of the combat zones,

the IDF said. The initiative's five goals include disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitizing the Gaza Strip, gaining military control of the territory, and establishing "an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamases nor the Palestinian Authority.