UN secretary general Antonio Guterres also made another futile appeal to Israel to end the carnage. Pleading for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas, he urged Israel to reverse a plan to expand illegal settlement construction in the West Bank. The plan would effectively bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem. It is widely being described as a move to kill off any chance of a two-state solution.
Israel is killing all prospects for peace in the Middle East, Jordan's foreign minister has said amid escalating international outrage over Israel's plans for a new large-scale offensive in Gaza City and its intention to massively expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Ayman Safadi made his remarks during a visit to Moscow on the same day that the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area that is home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory.