Israel says 'Gaza is burning' as it starts ground offensive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump has invited him to the White House. 

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly in two weeks, and Trump invited him to Washington afterward.

Most Arab states have come to realize that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "out of control" and the US is doing nothing to restrain him, Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges told DW. He was interviewed by Gerhard Elfers:

Antonio Guterres described the killing of civilians and the blocking of food distribution in Gaza as horrendous, as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza City.

"Israel is determined to go up to the end and [is] not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire," the United Nations Secretary-General said. 

Guterres said he would be willing to discuss the war with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the UN next week.

He was speaking to the media ahead of next week's UN General Assembly in New York. 

European Union foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas plans to introduce measures to "pressure the Israeli government to change course over the war in Gaza" on Wednesday.

"Suspending trade concessions and imposing sanctions on extremist ministers and violent settlers would clearly signal that the EU demands an end to this war," she wrote on X.

Earlier, she urged Germany to support plans for trade sanctions on Israel. 

"If we agree that the situation is untenable and we want the Israeli government to change course, then what can we do in order to achieve that?" Kallas said in an interview with broadcaster Euronews.

At the end of last month, foreign ministers of European Union states in Copenhagen were unable to reach any consensus on trade sanctions.

Some privately expressed frustration with EU nations, including Germany, blocking sanctions on Israel.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed defense cooperation after Israel's strike in Doha last week. 

"This [Israeli] attack, of course, expedites the need for a renewed strategic defense agreement between us and the United States. It's not something new per se, but certainly expedited," Al Ansari said in a briefing after Rubio's visit on Tuesday.

Rubio, who stopped in Qatar after visiting Israel, had said Qatar and the US were about to finalize an enhanced defense cooperation agreement.

Qatar is a close US ally and home to the largest US military base in the Middle East. Doha has also played a key mediator role between Israel and Hamas. 

Asked about the mediation efforts in light of the Doha attack, Al Ansari said: "Our focus right now is protecting our sovereignty, and we will not look into other issues until this one is resolved." 

Jacob Granger, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza, told DW that the people in Gaza had no good options in determining whether to stay in Gaza City or attempt to move south in line with evacuation orders from Israel. 

"It's really important to understand that there's no choice left for the population in Gaza City. They have the choice to stay in Gaza City and have restricted access to food, to water, to health services and increasing military operation or the choice to go south without anything — without proper shelter, just plastic sheeting tents, without proper access to water."

"For a lot of them, if they are leaving the shelter they have in Gaza City, they are not sure they will be able to find shelter and access to food, water and medical services in the south," he added. 

Granger said that there are no safe routes in Gaza for people to flee. 

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. It's been 22 months," he said. "A safe route in Gaza is something that does not exist."

He told DW that evidence of destruction was all around him. 

"We have clinics where we see the injured people arriving over there with open wounds, with missing legs, with missing arms," he said about the situation in Gaza.

Regarding the availability of food and water, he said: 

"We need to continue to deliver [humanitarian aid] in Gaza City because of the huge needs of the population, and we are taking risks because the Israeli government is not allowing safe access to Gaza City to humanitarian actors."

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram has criticized Israel's calls for the evacuation of Gaza City, saying it would be "inhumane" to expect hundreds of thousands of children to leave for unsafe, overcrowded and ill-equipped camps further south in the Gaza Strip. 

"It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children, battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict, to flee one hellscape and end up in another," Ingram told reporters via video link. 

"People really do have no good option — stay in danger or flee to a place that they also know is dangerous," she said.

Ingram described seeing large numbers of people fleeing down the main road out of Gaza City this week, many of them on foot, with no shoes.

"They were walking into the unknown — no clear destination or plan — with little hope of finding solace," she said.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned Israel's ground offensive in 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 of the operation in a post on X. 

EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said Israel's ground offensive on Gaza City would worsen the situation in the Palestinian territory.

"The EU has consistently urged Israel not to intensify its operation in Gaza City," he 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."

Last month, when Israel announced its plans to take over Gaza City, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Israel's decision "must be reconsidered." 

Separately, on Tuesday, European Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho said EU commissioners were  set to impose measures against Israel.

"Tomorrow, commissioners will be adopting a package of measures on Israel," Pinho told reporters. "Specifically, a proposal to suspend certain trade provisions in the agreements between the EU and Israel." 

The board of the Spanish broadcaster RTVE has voted to withdraw from the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel takes part in the event. 

The 2026 contest is set to take place in May in Vienna. 

The Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Ireland have already pledged to boycott the event if Israel participates. But Spain is the first of the so-called Big Five — along with Britain, Germany, Italy and France — that automatically qualify for the contest's final round.

Spain is also one of the biggest Eurovision spenders. 

Ten out of 15 board members voted in favor of the move, the broadcaster said. 

Facing calls to exclude Israel, Eurovision has insisted that it is a politically neutral event.

Critics say that argument carries little weight since Eurovision excluded Russia after members threatened to boycott over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes Eurovision, has justified its position, saying Israel's broadcaster has a different relationship to the government than that of the Russian broadcaster to the Kremlin. 

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized Israel's expanded operation in Gaza as "completely wrong," and called for a ceasefire and hostage deal instead. 

"The renewed offensive toward Gaza City is ... the completely wrong path," he said. Wadephul added that Berlin "made this clear to the Israeli government."

Germany has come under pressure to take action against Israel's actions in Gaza, as have other European countries. 

With Germany's historical responsibility to the state of Israel because of the Holocaust, senior German politicians, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Wadephul, have mostly stopped short of harsh criticism of Israeli military action in Gaza and said Israel should act within the bounds of international law.

Germany has, at least temporarily, restricted some arms exports to Israel, but the government has rejected calls for a trade embargo or other kinds of sanctions on Israel.

Luxembourg's prime minister, Luc Frieden, announced that his country would join other European countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood at a UN summit in New York next week.

He said "the situation on the ground has deteriorated considerably in recent months," making the recognition necessary. 

"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 recognize the State of Palestine at next week's conference on the two-state solution."

France, Britain, Australia, Canada and Belgium are among the countries that have said they plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the meeting at the UN General Assembly. 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said at an urgent debate that Israel undermined regional peace by launching strikes in Qatar.

"Israel's strike on negotiators in Doha on 9 September was a shocking breach of international law, an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world," he told delegates at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Türk said Israel's targeting of negotiators in Doha undermined Qatar's key role as a mediator.

He called on the UN Human Rights Council "to reaffirm the central importance of mediation processes" and urged "accountability for unlawful killings."

The Israeli military launched a ground assault on Gaza City overnight Tuesday, with troops advancing into the center of the Strip's  largest urban hub, a military official told journalists.

"Last night, we transitioned into the next phase, the main phase of the plan for Gaza City," the Israeli military official told reporters, calling the city "Hamas' main stronghold" in the Gaza Strip.

The official said the military was carrying out a "gradual maneuver" involving both air and ground forces in an attempt to root out what he said were Hamas fighters hiding in an extensive tunnel network under the city. 

According to Israel's estimates, up to 3,000 combat-ready members of the militant group could be present in Gaza City. 

The military said it would work to ensure the safety of the remaining hostages and civilians in the city.

Israel estimates that more than 350,000 people, about 40% of the population,  have already fled Gaza City.

For the second time in less than a week, the Spanish Foreign Ministry has said it's planning to summon the Israeli charge d'affaires to protest remarks by Israel's foreign minister against Spain's prime minister. 

The envoy is the highest-ranking Israeli official in Spain, as Israel has not had an ambassador in Madrid since the Spanish government recognized the state of Palestine in 2024.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had called Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez "an antisemite and a liar" in a message on X on Monday. 

Sanchez supported massive pro-Palestinian protests in Madrid that caused the cancellation of the last stage of the La Vuelta cycling race.

"This morning, the Foreign Ministry will summon the charge d'affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Spain to protest the unacceptable words and positions of the Israeli Foreign Minister regarding Spain and the Prime Minister," the ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called in Israel's charge d'affaires to protest remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who claimed that Sanchez made a "blatant genocidal threat" by announcing measures against Israel. 

The measures included an arms embargo and blocking Israel-bound fuel deliveries from passing through Spanish ports.