Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza City; UN commission alleges genocide

Israel is determined to "go up to the end" in its Gaza military campaign and is not open to serious peace talks, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.

"Israel is determined to go up to the end and (is) not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire, with dramatic consequences from Israel's point of view," he said.

US President Donald Trump said that Hamas would be in "big trouble" if they use hostages in Gaza as human shields during a new offensive launched by Israel.

"We'll wait to hear what happens, because I hear Hamas is trying to use the old human shield deal, and if they do that they're going to be in big trouble," Trump told reporters when asked about Israel's offensive.

More than 10,000 children need treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza City, where the Israeli army launched a major ground offensive on Tuesday, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported.

"The forced and massive displacement of families from Gaza City is a deadly threat to the most vulnerable," said Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokeswoman in southern Gaza's Al Mawasi zone.

Speaking to journalists at a televised UN press briefing in Geneva, Ingram warned of worsening rates of child malnutrition.

"We estimate that 26,000 children in the Gaza Strip currently require treatment for acute malnutrition, including more than 10,000 in Gaza City alone," she said.

She explained that in August, more than one in eight children examined in the Gaza Strip suffered from acute malnutrition, "the highest level ever recorded".

In Gaza City, that figure was one in five.

Nutrition centres in Gaza City have been "forced to shut this week due to evacuation orders and the military escalation", Ingram added.

A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations' Human Rights Council has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it.

The deeply documented findings by the three-member team are the latest accusations of genocide against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as Israel carries on with its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people. Israel rejected what it called a “distorted and false” report.

The Israeli military warned on Tuesday it was poised to strike the Huthi-held Yemeni port of Hodeida, urging people and ships in the area to evacuate immediately.

"In the coming hours, a strike will be carried out... in response to military activity by the Huthi terrorist regime. For your safety, we urge everyone in Hodeida port and the vessels anchored there to evacuate the area immediately," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

British foreign minister Yvette Cooper condemned Israel's ground assault on Gaza City as "utterly reckless and appalling", calling instead for an immediate ceasefire.

"It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians and endanger the remaining hostages," she said in a post on X.

The European Union warned that Israel’s ground assault on Gaza City will add to the toll of death and destruction, and worsen an already “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the territory.

“The EU has consistently urged Israel not to intensify its operation in Gaza City,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.

“A military intervention will lead to more destruction, more death and more displacement, and we have been clear that this will also aggravate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and also endangers the lives of hostages,” he said.

Brussels is expected Wednesday to put forward proposals for a raft of measures against Israel over the war in Gaza.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said last week they would include suspending the trade parts of a cooperation agreement and sanctioning “extremist” Israeli ministers.

Long lines of traffic stretched down the coastal road on Tuesday as tens of thousands of Palestinians attempted to leave northern Gaza after Israel said it had begun its ground operation in Gaza City.

Vehicles laden with belongings, with mattresses strapped to every available surface, crawled along the road while others made their way on foot down the coast.

The UN estimates some 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza, including more than 70,000 in the past few days, ahead of the operation.

Approximately 1 million Palestinians were in the Gaza City region before the most recent operation.

Gaza City residents say they are being subjected to “heavy, relentless” bombardment amid reports of at least 48 deaths.

Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for some time in the leadup to the operation, knocking down towers in the city.

Israeli strikes in Gaza City overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to Al Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies.

Germany slammed Israel's ground assault on Gaza City as "completely wrong", urging instead talks towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"The renewed offensive towards Gaza City is... the completely wrong path," said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. "We reject this and have made this clear to the Israeli government."

As Israel launches a ground offensive in Gaza City, Unicef has warned that any further escalation will “multiply children’s suffering exponentially, ripping away the last vestiges of protection.”

The UN children’s agency said 450,000 children in the city are already “traumatized and exhausted, facing famine” amid a collapse in medical care and a lack of aid.

After nearly two years of relentless war, UNICEF cautioned that children in Gaza face even greater loss if the fighting intensifies.

Luxembourg has said it will join a raft of countries recognising the State of Palestine at a United Nations summit in New York next week.

French President Emmanuel Macron is spearheading the drive on recognising a Palestinian state as international condemnation grows of Israel over its nearly two-year offensive in Gaza.

Speaking to journalists late Monday, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden said that "the situation on the ground has deteriorated considerably in recent months".

"A movement is now emerging in Europe and around the world to demonstrate that the two-state solution is still relevant," Frieden said.

"That is why the Luxembourg government intends to join those who recognise the State of Palestine at next week's conference on the two-state solution."

Countries including Britain, Australia, Canada and Belgium have said they plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the meeting at the UN General Assembly.

The Israeli military launched overnight what it described as the main phase of its operation into Gaza City, with an official estimating Tuesday that thousands of Hamas fighters were in the territory's largest urban center.

"The main move into Gaza City is what began last night... We understand there are thousands of Hamas militants in Gaza City," the official said. The military assessed there were between "2,000-3,000 Hamas" militants operating in the area, he added.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.

The investigators concluded that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with President Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, have “incited the commission of genocide” in the Palestinian territory.

The commission concluded that Israeli authorities and forces had since October 2023 committed “four of the five genocidal acts” listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention.

These are “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”.

Nearly 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Spain summoned Israel’s top diplomat on Tuesday for the second time in five days over remarks by Israel’s foreign minister that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was antisemitic and a “liar”.

Israel’s charge d’affaires, Dana Erlich, was called in over “the unacceptable words and positions of the Israeli foreign minister,” the foreign ministry said.

Israel has not had an ambassador in Spain since the Sanchez government recognised the state of Palestine in 2024.

Spain’s leftist government has been one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Madrid recalled its ambassador to Israel last week after announcing new measures aimed at “ending the genocide in Gaza,” further straining relations.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently described Sanchez as “antisemitic” and a “liar” after the Spanish leader expressed admiration for pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupted Spain’s Vuelta cycling race.

Israel launched a ground operation into Gaza City on Tuesday, declaring "Gaza is burning", reports said, quoting Israeli officials.

An Israeli military official said the Israeli Defence Forces had begun the main stage of their ground operation into Gaza City, the main urban centre in the enclave, where Israel has ordered hundred of thousands of residents to flee.

The move escalates its war in defiance of international condemnation and backlash from the families of hostages held by Hamas.

An official estimated on Tuesday that thousands of Hamas fighters were in the territory’s largest urban centre.

“The main move into Gaza City is what began last night... We understand there are thousands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza City,” the official told AFP. The military assessed there were between “2,000-3,000 Hamas” militants operating in the area, he added.