The Palestinian Authority on Saturday lambasted the Israeli government’s decision to expand its military operations in Gaza, as it called on the international community to push for the entry of aid into the Strip.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the PA’s presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Jerusalem’s moves were “an unprecedented challenge and provocation to the international will to achieve peace and stability.”
He also called on the “international community, led by the UN Security Council, to urgently compel the occupying state to cease its aggression, allow the entry of aid, and work diligently to enable the State of Palestine to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip,” WAFA reported.
Early Friday, the Israeli security cabinet approved plans to launch major operations to seize Gaza City, triggering a wave of outrage across the globe.
The Gaza City takeover, which was authorized despite the military’s widely reported opposition, has sparked fierce criticism at home and abroad, with hostages’ families saying it will endanger their loved ones and foreign governments warning of dire consequences for Gaza’s civilians.
A joint statement Saturday by nine countries including Germany, Britain, France and Canada said that they “strongly reject” Israel’s decision to move forward on the large-scale military operation, saying it will worsen the “catastrophic humanitarian situation,” endanger hostages and further risk mass displacement. They said any attempts at annexation or settlement in Gaza violate international law.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa speaks during a UN conference on a two-state solution, at UN headquarters on July 28, 2025, in New York City. (Timothy A. Clary / AFP)
A separate statement by more than 20 countries including ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar along with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates called Israel’s decision a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation.”
Meanwhile, Russia said Israel’s plan will aggravate the “already extremely dramatic situation” in Gaza.
The UN Security Council planned an emergency meeting Saturday but later rescheduled it for Sunday.
And Germany has said it won’t authorize any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice.
The cabinet decision states that Palestinians will have until October 7, 2025, to evacuate Gaza City — a two-month window that also coincides with the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, an Israeli official said. The IDF will then launch its ground offensive into Gaza City, placing a siege on the area in order to kill any remaining Hamas operatives. After the takeover is complete, the official indicated that the IDF will proceed to the remaining unconquered areas of Gaza.
Israel says it currently controls 75 percent of the Strip, while the IDF has largely avoided entering the remaining 25% — which mostly comprises Gaza City and refugee camps in central Gaza — due to the belief that most of the hostages are being held there.
Almost all of Gaza’s 2 million citizens are currently in the quarter of the Strip that the IDF does not control. Hamas has threatened to execute hostages if its operatives detect Israeli troops closing in; Hamas captors killed six Israeli hostages in Rafah, in southern Gaza, last August, when IDF troops inadvertently neared the tunnel where they were being held.
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