• Pakistan sees it as attempt to expand ‘genocidal’ military campaign against Palestinians; PM Shehbaz calls it ‘dangerous escalation’
• Hamas terms it ‘a new war crime’; EU leaders urge ‘rethink’; stanch ally Germany suspends arms shipments

ISLAMABAD/JERUSALEM: Israel’s new plan to “take control” of Gaza City sparked outrage from the international community, with Pakistan warning that the planned occupation was merely a front for Tel Aviv to expand its “genocidal” military campaign against Palestinians.

The plan, approved by PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, comes amid growing international concern has been growing over the suffering in Gaza — where a UN-backed assessment has warned that Israel’s blockade of aid is causing a famine — and concerns for the safety of prisoners still held by Hamas.

Under the newly approved plan to “defeat” Hamas, the Israeli army “will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”, Netanyahu’s office said Friday.

Earlier, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, but did not intend to govern it.

He told Fox News on Thursday that Israel wanted to maintain a “security perimeter” and to hand the Palestinian territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us”.

Netanyahu’s office said the cabinet had adopted “five principles”, including Gaza’s demilitarisation and “the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority”.

The main campaign group for prisoners’ families also slammed the plan, saying it amounted to “abandoning” the captives.

Hamas on Friday said the “plans to occupy Gaza City and evacuate its residents constitutes a new war crime”.

It warned Israel that the operation would “cost it dearly”, and that “expanding the aggression means sacrificing” the hostages held by militants.

Pakistan’s reaction

Reacting to the Israeli plan to occupy Gaza, Pakistan’s Foreign Office warned that this would only intensify the humanitarian catastrophe in the territory and undermine international peace efforts.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also lambasted it as a “dangerous escalation”.

“We strongly condemn the Israeli cabinet’s approval of a plan to take illegal and illegitimate control of Gaza City. This tantamounts [sic] to a dangerous escalation in an already catastrophic war against the people of Palestine,” the prime minister said in a post on X.

He added that the expansion of military operations will only worsen the already existing humanitarian crisis and derail any prospect for peace in the region.

“We must not lose sight of the root cause of this ongoing tragedy: that is, Israel’s prolonged, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. As long as this occupation endures, peace will remain elusive,” the premier added.

The Foreign Office statement said it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the reported Israeli plan for a complete military takeover of Gaza”.

“This not only represents yet another flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but also the occupying power’s intention to further expand its ongoing genocidal military campaign.”

The statement urged the international community to “ensure an immediate end to Israeli impunity and its genocidal military campaign; take concrete measures for the provision of unimpeded humanitarian supplies to millions of Palestinians in dire need; and hold Israel accountable for its heinous crimes.”

Separately, at a weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said the Gaza crisis remains central to Pakistan’s diplomacy.

“Issue of Gaza is in the hearts of our people. We have made Pakistan’s principled diplomatic position on the subject abundantly clear,” he said, noting that the deputy prime minister recently chaired a special briefing on the Middle East situation at the United Nations in New York.

International backlash

The plan also triggered swift criticism from across the globe, with China, Turkey, Britain and the UN’s rights chief as well as numerous Arab governments issuing statements of concern.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the plan must be “immediately halted”.

Israel should instead allow “the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid” and Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages, he added.

“The Israeli government’s decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

European Council chief Antonio Costa also criticised the plan, warning “such a decision must have consequences” for EU-Israel ties.

“This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, adding that it would “only bring more bloodshed”.

“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.

“The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire.”

Staunch Israeli ally Germany, meanwhile, took the extraordinary step of halting military exports out of concern they could be used in Gaza.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was “increasingly difficult to understand” how the Israeli military plan would help achieve legitimate aims.

“Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice,” he added.

The Saudi foreign ministry said that Riyadh “categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people”.

A statement issued by the Royal Court said King Abdullah condemned a move “which undermines the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people”.

Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry also said it condemned the plan “in the strongest possible terms”.

With input from AFP and Baqir Sajjad Syed in Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2025