Smoke and flames rise as an Israeli airstrike hits a house, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 2 Smoke and flames rise as an Israeli airstrike hits a house, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi

Summary UN aid chief warns of famine spreading to new areas

Israeli military warned civilians to leave Gaza City

Gaza war increasingly unpopular among Israelis

Danish minister, in Jerusalem, calls on Israel to end war

JERUSALEM/CAIRO/NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) – There is a “narrow window” to prevent famine from spreading further in Gaza, a top U.N. official said on Sunday, calling on Israel to allow unimpeded aid delivery in the territory, where it is fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas.

According to a global hunger monitor , hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are already experiencing or at risk of famine in areas including Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, where Israel has launched a new offensive against Hamas.

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Israel, which stopped all aid for 11 weeks from March until mid-May, says it is doing more to let aid enter and be distributed in the enclave to prevent food shortages, though international agencies say far more is needed.

“There is a narrow window – until the end of September – to prevent famine from spreading to Deir al Balah (in central Gaza) and Khan Younis (southern Gaza). That window is now closing fast,” said United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher.

COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that deals with humanitarian issues, said on Sunday that over the past week aid from more than 1,900 trucks, most supplying food, was distributed in Gaza.

“We will continue facilitating humanitarian aid into Gaza for the civilian population – not Hamas,” COGAT said in a statement.

Israel last month launched an assault on the outskirts of Gaza City and its forces are now just a few kilometres from the city centre, where it issued warnings over the weekend to civilians to evacuate high rise buildings it says are being used by Hamas, before bombing them.

Israel did not provide evidence to show Hamas was using the buildings, an accusation the militant group denied.

Overnight, strikes killed 14 people across the city, local health officials said, including a strike on a school in southern Gaza City sheltering displaced Palestinians.

The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas militant and that civilians had been warned before the strike was carried out.

The military on Saturday also warned Gaza City’s civilians to leave for the south, including Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are already sheltering in cramped tent encampments along the coast.

‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’

With hundreds of thousands of people remaining in Gaza City, pressure is growing to end the war.

“We say to Hamas, we want a ceasefire, end this war before Gaza City is turned into ruins like Rafah,” said Gaza City resident Emad, referring to a southern Gaza City that Israel destroyed earlier in the war.

“We want an end to this war. How long is this going to go on? How many lives are going to be wasted? Enough is enough,” he said by phone, asking for his surname not to be published.

The war has grown increasingly unpopular among Israelis too. On Saturday night, tens of thousands of protesters joined families of hostages at rallies, calling for an end to the war and demanding the release of the hostages.

Twenty of the 48 hostages still in Gaza are believed to still be alive.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the war could end immediately if Hamas released the hostages and laid down its weapons.

“We will be more than happy to reach this objective with political means,” he told a press conference in Jerusalem.

In response, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the group would not disarm but would release all hostages if Israel ended the war and withdrew all its forces from Gaza, reiterating Hamas’ long-standing position.

More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military assault, launched after Hamas-led militants carried out the surprise October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people and saw another 251 abducted and taken into Gaza.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking to reporters in Jerusalem alongside his Israeli counterpart, called on Israel to “change course” and stop its military campaign.

“We are extremely concerned about the humanitarian (situation),” he said, also calling for the hostages to be freed.

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Maayan Lubell and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Alex Richardson and Aidan Lewis

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Lebanon’s Cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.

A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken centre stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group.

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia, along with Hezbollah’s primarily Christian and Sunni opponents in Lebanon, have ramped up calls for the group to give up arms.

But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south. Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday.

On Friday, Lebanon’s Cabinet met for three hours, which included the plan’s presentation by army commander Rodolphe Haykal.

All five Shi’ite Cabinet ministers left the session in protest once Haykal entered the room.

Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos told reporters after the session that the government welcomed the plan but stopped short of saying the Cabinet had formally passed it.

He said the army would begin implementing the plan according to its logistical, material and personnel capabilities, which might require “additional time (and) additional effort”.

Morcos said the plan’s details would remain secret.

Hezbollah-aligned Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar told local media before the cabinet’s session had concluded that any decision taken in the absence of Shi’ite ministers would be null and void as it would be considered in contravention of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. REUTERS

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– Israel’s far-right Finance Minister said on Sept 3 that maps were being drawn up for annexing territory in the occupied West Bank, land the Palestinians seek for a state, although it was unclear if he had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support.

At a press conference in Jerusalem, Mr Bezalel Smotrich stood before a map that suggested the possible annexation of most of the West Bank, with the exception of six large Palestinian cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.

Mr Smotrich said he wanted “maximum territory and minimum (Palestinian) population” to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, urging Mr Netanyahu to accept his plan, which is being drawn up by a department under Mr Smotrich’s supervision in the Defence Ministry.

“The time has come to apply Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, to remove once and for all from the agenda the idea of dividing our tiny land and establishing a terror state in its centre,” he said, using biblical names widely used in Israel and the administrative name used by the state to describe the area.

“Who can defend a state with such small strategic depth? And this is why the goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda. And this is done when applying (sovereignty) to all of the territory, other than Arab population centres. I have no interest in letting them enjoy what the state of Israel has to offer,” he said.

Mr Smotrich, a settler leader, has long called for annexation of the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and is among territories the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.

Mr Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond on Sept 3 to a request for comment on the Prime Minister’s position on the matter.

However, the prospect of any concrete steps by the Netanyahu government, which would likely entail a lengthy legislative process, is unclear.

Any step towards annexation would likely draw widespread condemnation from Arab and Western countries.

It is unclear where US President Donald Trump stands on the matter.

Speaking after Mr Smotrich made his remarks, an official from the United Arab Emirates said Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be a “red line” for the UAE , which established formal ties with Israel in 2020 under US-brokered accords.

A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sept 1 that “any annexation or settlement activity by Israel is illegitimate, condemned, and unacceptable”.

Mr Abdel Hakim Hanini, an official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is a rival of Mr Abbas’ Fatah party, said annexing the West Bank would not bring Israel the security it seeks and instead “lead to further resistance and confrontation”.

Israel, which is facing mounting international criticism over the war in Gaza, has been angered by pledges by France, Britain, Australia and Canada to formally recognise a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September.

Reuters reported on Aug 31 that Israel was considering annexing the West Bank as a possible response to those pledges.

The UN’s highest court said in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, and its settlements there were illegal and should end as soon as possible.

Israel says the territories are not occupied in legal terms because they are disputed. REUTERS

Czech Prime Minister and leader of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Petr Fiala gestures during an election campaign rally ahead of the country’s parliamentary election that will start on October 3, in Prague, Czech Republic, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/David W Cerny Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 4 Czech Prime Minister and leader of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) Petr Fiala gestures during an election campaign rally ahead of the country’s parliamentary election that will start on October 3, in Prague, Czech Republic, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/David W Cerny

PRAGUE, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, headed for a difficult election in a month, told supporters on Wednesday that his main opponent Andrej Babis would put the country’s democracy and position in Europe under threat by making deals with extremist parties.

Fiala’s SPOLU (Together) centre-right coalition faces an uphill battle in an October 3-4 parliamentary election that pits it against the ANO party of billionaire Andrej Babis, a eurosceptic ally of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

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Opinion polls show ANO winning the most votes with over 30%, a 10 point advantage over SPOLU, but as many as seven parties could exceed the 5% threshold to win seats in parliament, meaning the next government is almost certain to be a coalition.

Fiala told a crowd at Prague’s Peace Square that the country’s roots in Europe could be eroded if Babis were to rely on far-right or far-left parties.

“People are worried over what happens if populists and extremists win,” he said. “For the first time since 1989, I am worried as well,” he said, referring to the year of the “Velvet Revolution”, when then-Czechoslovakia threw off Communist rule.

Fiala is hoping that he can boost his support among mainstream voters by sounding the alarm over his rival’s potential future coalition partners.

“I don’t see Babis as the greatest threat, but I fear the smaller parties,” said Simon Jezek, a 23-year-old law student in Prague, who described one far-left party seen as a potential member of a Babis-led coalition as “masked Communists”.

Babis’s ANO party started as a pro-European, centrist liberal movement in 2011, but Babis later turned it into an anti-Brussels, anti-immigration group and formed the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament with Orban and several other far-right European parties.

Reporting by Jan Lopatka Editing by Peter Graff

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