JERUSALEM/GAZA/CAIRO/AMMAN/BERLIN/CANBERRA - Australia will formally recognize a Palestinian state at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, Albanese said that Australia will recognize the "right" of the Palestinian people to a "state of their own".

"A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza," he said.

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Albanese said that his cabinet met on Monday morning and endorsed the move to recognize Palestinian statehood as part of a "coordinated global effort" building momentum for a two-state solution. 

Gaza takeover plan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he is determined to launch a recently approved plan to take over Gaza City, which has drawn wide international condemnation.

Israel "has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas", he told a press conference for foreign media in Jerusalem.

"Our goal is not to occupy Gaza, our goal is to free Gaza," he said.

Netanyahu said that even if Hamas is "completely defeated”, Israel's postwar plan includes maintaining security control over the enclave and complete control over land between Gaza and Israel, where a "security zone" would be established.

Daily life in Gaza, he said, would be run by a "civilian administration" under an international entity that is neither Israel nor the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

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He also denounced what he called a "global campaign of lies" as condemnation of the plan increased worldwide, as well as within Israel. He denied that Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, despite evidence from photos, videos, local journalists, international physicians who have been to Gaza, United Nations experts, and human rights groups.

Remaining Hamas strongholds

Netanyahu also said the military had been ordered to enter the "decisive stage" of the Gaza conflict, aimed at seizing the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City, refugee camps in central Gaza and the southern area of Al Mawasi.

According to figures presented by Netanyahu, since Israel resumed its assaults in the Gaza Strip in March, the military has taken control of about 70 percent of Gaza.

He said that following the security cabinet decision, the army was instructed to begin the operation in Gaza City.

A map he presented showed the ground campaign would target Gaza City, refugee camps in central Gaza and Al Mawasi, a southern area Israel has designated a "humanitarian zone”, sheltering displaced Palestinians in makeshift tents.

Netanyahu said civilians would be allowed to leave combat zones through designated corridors before the assault, without giving a start date.

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He accused Hamas of setting "impossible conditions" that stalled Qatar-brokered talks. These conditions, he said, include a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, the release of Hamas's Nukhba fighters from Israeli prisons, and international guarantees to prevent Israel from resuming fire.

Correspondents killed in Gaza

Also on Sunday, the Israeli army killed four correspondents working for Qatar's Al Jazeera channel, by attacking their tent in front of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera and Gaza-based medical sources.

Al Jazeera reported that its journalists Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, were killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza.

Mohammed Abu Selmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, told Xinhua that five Palestinians were killed in the Israeli strike. "Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, both correspondents for Al Jazeera, and two cameramen, Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal, were among the victims."

Palestinian civil defense sources told Xinhua that the Israeli army directly targeted the journalists' tent, killing the four.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a later statement that it had killed Anas Al-Sharif in Gaza City in a strike, claiming that he was affiliated with Hamas.

"Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops," it alleged.

It said documents found showed his affiliation with Hamas, including "personnel rosters, lists of terrorist training courses, phone directories, and salary documents”.

‘Another calamity’

Separately, a UN official warned that Israel's decision to take over Gaza City may trigger another calamity in Gaza.

"We are already witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable scale in Gaza," said Miroslav Jenca, UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas. "If these (Israeli) plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction, compounding the unbearable suffering of the population."

For now, there are limited official details of Israel's military plans. However, according to Israeli media reports, the government foresees the displacement of all civilians from Gaza City by Oct 7, 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them previously displaced.

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Reports indicate that the Israel Defense Forces would then surround the city for three months. This would then reportedly be followed by an additional two months to seize control of central Gaza's camps and clear the entire area of Palestinian armed groups, Jenca told a meeting of the Security Council.

42 killed in Israeli attacks

At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, while the death toll from starvation and malnutrition has risen to 217 since the recent conflict broke out in October 2023.

Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson of Gaza Civil Defense, told Xinhua that among the casualties, 18 people were killed while trying to obtain food near US-backed aid distribution centers across the enclave, including the Zikim crossing in the north, the Netzarim junction in central Gaza, and the southern Rafah city.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on these incidents.

Arms export halt to Israel

In another development, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz defended his decision to halt arms exports to Israel, stating that the move reflects a disagreement with the Israeli government.

In an interview with the public broadcaster ARD, Merz said the decision followed weeks of discussions and was prompted by the Israeli security cabinet's move to escalate the military conflict in the Gaza Strip.

He voiced concerns about the planned evacuation of Gaza City, stressing that Germany cannot supply weapons in a conflict that now set to be resolved solely via military means, a course that could result in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.

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Merz has more than once expressed deep concern over Israel's military operations in Gaza. On Friday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Merz his disappointment with Germany's decision to suspend all exports of military equipment to Israel, accusing Berlin of "rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel”.