Several countries, including France and Britain, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly later this month.

An Israeli strike flattened a high-rise in Gaza City on Saturday -- the second in as many days -- after the military warned people to flee south to a "humanitarian zone" ahead of a planned offensive against the urban hub.

Venice, Italy - At its premiere, a powerful new Gaza film at the Venice Film Festival sparked 23 minutes of sustained applause. But the next day hate emails flooded in, the director said Friday. "The Voice of Hind Rajab" from French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania is a strong contender for...

"The genocide in Gaza exposes Europe's failure to act and speak with one voice," European Commission vice president Teresa Ribera said during a speech in Paris.

The Israeli military has been gearing up to seize Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre, with the United Nations estimating that nearly a million people live in and around the northern city.

Hamas denounced on Monday a plan reportedly being considered by US President Donald Trump for the United States to take control of the devastated Gaza Strip and for its population to be relocated.

The 10-member SCO said they also strongly condemned US and Israeli strikes on Iran in June, in the statement issued after a summit of the 10 member states in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

The entire population of Gaza would be relocated and the United States would take control of the Palestinian territory under a plan being considered by the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Pictures released by the Palestinian group on Saturday showed him alongside other political and military leaders described as "martyrs of the military council".

The vessels will set off from the Spanish port city to "open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people", said the Global Sumud Flotilla. They did not say how many ships would set sail or the exact time of departure.

The extraordinary step further aligns President Donald Trump's administration with Israel's government, which adamantly rejects a Palestinian state and has sought to lump together the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority with rival Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli military, however, is gearing up to expand the fighting and seize Gaza City, with its Arabic-language spokesman saying: "We are not waiting.

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday called on the government to begin annexing parts of the Gaza Strip if Palestinian militant group Hamas stands by its refusal to lay down its weapons.

Israel, whose military is preparing to conquer Gaza City, is under mounting pressure at home and abroad to end its almost two-year offensive in the Palestinian territory.

On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 38 people on Wednesday, including 16 in Gaza City.

Qatar and Egypt, along with the United States, have been mediating indirect ceasefire negotiations throughout the Gaza war, but despite sealing two temporary truces, the successive rounds of talks have repeatedly failed to bring a lasting end to the conflict.

"The goal is control and forcing people to leave. This is just the beginning -- it will expand across the entire West Bank," said Ghassan Abu Aliya, who leads a local agricultural association.

"We have no home left, no food, no income... so we are forced to turn to charity kitchens, but they do not satisfy our hunger," said Yousef Hamad, 58, who was displaced from the northern city of Beit Hanoun.

Hamas called on Friday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the lifting of the Israeli siege on the territory after the UN declared a famine in parts of Gaza

Tom Fletcher, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, blamed Israel, accusing it of "systematic obstruction" of aid deliveries to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Washington, United States - A group of 17 US Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday calling for the United States to press Israel to grant access and protection to journalists in Gaza. The letter comes one week after an Israeli strike killed a group of...

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometre parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition.

Mediators are awaiting an official Israeli response to the plan, a day after Hamas signaled its readiness for a fresh round of talks aimed at ending nearly two years of war.

"The movement has submitted its response, agreeing to the mediators' new proposal. We pray to God to extinguish the fire of this war on our people," senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said.

Israel said Sunday it targeted an energy infrastructure site in Yemen's capital Sanaa, linked to the Iran-backed Huthi rebels behind repeated attacks on Israel during the Gaza war.

A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostage Square -- which has been a focal point for protests throughout the war. Demonstrators also blocked roads, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they set tires on fire

The latest deadly strike comes as Israeli military hinted at an approaching call to push civilians from Gaza City ahead of a new offensive.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Saturday that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has become a "problem", adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the EU presidency.

"While 994 were killed in the vicinity of GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites, 766 were killed along the routes of supply convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military," UNRWA said.

According to the joint letter, whose signatories include Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), at least 60 requests to bring aid into Gaza were rejected in July alone.

The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory.

Montreal, Canada - Palestinian-Canadian Faiza Najjar was able to leave Gaza last year, but could not bring her four adult daughters with her. She watched from a distance as food shortages in the territory worsened. From Canada, where she lives with her six other children, Najjar pursued a months-long effort...

For Palestinians, any effort to force them off their land would recall the "Nakba", or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel's creation in 1948.

The London-based group also called for the "recognition of the State of Palestine", but added "this will not halt the unfolding genocide and famine in Gaza".

Dozens of Gazans stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues killed on Sunday.

Oslo, Norway -- Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, said Monday that it was selling its investments in 11 Israeli companies, following reports it had invested in an Israeli jet engine maker even as the war in Gaza raged. Nicolai Tangen, chief of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday a plan to allow more foreign journalists to report inside Gaza with the military, as he laid out his vision for victory in the territory during a rare press conference.

UN says 'if these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction.'

Obeid, 41, was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces "targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip", the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said in a statement.

Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.

European Council chief Antonio Costa warned "such a decision must have consequences" for EU-Israel ties, while Germany said it was halting arms shipment to Israel.

"Netanyahu's plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda," Hamas said in a statement.

"We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. That's not possible with Hamas," the Israeli PM told Fox News.

The survey, which dates from July 28, found that 8.6 percent of Gaza's farmland was accessible, but only 1.5 percent, or 2.3 square kilometres (less than one square mile) was both accessible and usable.

The Israeli press, citing officials, has predicted an escalation of operations, including in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, such as Gaza City and refugee camps.

Israeli media said the premier was considering ordering the total occupation of the Palestinian territory, with public broadcaster Kan reporting that "Netanyahu wants the Israeli army to conquer the entire Gaza Strip."

"The GHF ... is an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law," the experts said.

Hostage families and peace activists want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 Hamas attacks.

His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war.

One of the largest marches took place in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority located just north of Jerusalem, with hundreds gathering at the main square, waving Palestinian flags.