Overview

• The IPC, backed by UN agencies, formally declared a famine in and around Gaza City, warning that 132,000 children under five face undernutrition and 41,000 are in critical condition, with analysts expecting conditions to worsen further south by late September.
• Netanyahu rejected the IPC assessment as a “blatant lie,” saying Israel is preventing hunger and accusing the report of relying on Hamas data, while UN chief António Guterres described a deliberate collapse of essential life‑support systems.
• Israel has approved plans to seize Gaza City and to relocate an estimated one million residents to tent camps in the south, with Israeli media reporting a security‑cabinet session Tuesday on the operation and negotiations and some reports indicating a potential start only after evacuations, possibly in September.
• Opposition leader Benny Gantz proposed a short‑term unity government excluding far‑right partners to secure a comprehensive hostage agreement and then hold elections next spring, though key opposition figures resist serving under Netanyahu and far‑right ministers threaten to quit over a truce.
• Mediators have floated a 60‑day ceasefire trading ten living hostages for Palestinian prisoners and the return of 18 bodies; Hamas says it agreed, Israel has not, and about 49–50 hostages remain in captivity with the Israeli army estimating roughly 20–22 are alive, fueling mass protests in Tel Aviv.