JERUSALEM / GAZA / CAIRO / TEHRAN / AMMAN - Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated on Sunday, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secure a deal with Hamas to end the Gaza war and release the remaining hostages.

The day of strikes and nationwide protests came amid mounting public anger over government plans to launch a new offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory. Critics fear the operation, aimed at seizing Gaza City and central Gaza, could endanger the 49 hostages still held there.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the demonstrations, stated that hundreds of thousands participated in rallies at more than 300 locations across the country.

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In Tel Aviv, streets were cleared as many businesses, including local branches of Microsoft, Meta, and Fiverr, shuttered in solidarity with the protest. Demonstrators blocked highways, including the main road to Jerusalem, set tires on fire, and disrupted transportation. Protesters carried Israeli flags alongside yellow banners symbolizing the hostage struggle, chanting slogans and banging drums.

"The conquest of Gaza = death sentence for the hostages," read one placard. "We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages," protesters chanted.

Police reported using water cannons to disperse some gatherings and arrested at least 38 people.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right minister, condemned the protests as a "perverse and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas's hands." Smotrich said pressure for a deal would "bury the hostages in tunnels" and force Israel to "surrender to its enemies."

In contrast, former hostage Gadi Moses told demonstrators that "the path of war will not lead to any solution." He rejected calls to "eliminate Hamas", warning that another group would always emerge. Moses urged leaders to adopt "a rational plan that will bring benefit to the Palestinian people and ensure prosperity and security for us."

Relocation plan condemned

Egypt on Sunday reiterated its categorical rejection of any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians, warning that such moves would amount to "a historical injustice with no moral or legal justification" and constitute "a heinous crime," its Foreign Ministry said.

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The ministry voiced "grave concern" over reports that Israel had consulted with certain countries about accepting Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. It described the discussions as part of "a rejected Israeli policy aimed at emptying Palestinian land of its inhabitants, occupying it, and liquidating the Palestinian cause."

Cairo said its contacts with the countries concerned confirmed their rejection of such schemes. Egypt "fully rejects displacement, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, whether forced or voluntary through starvation, land confiscation, settlement and rendering life untenable on Palestinian soil," the statement said.

Egypt "will not accept it, will not participate in it, and will not permit it," the ministry added, warning it would lead to the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. It called on "all peace-loving nations" to avoid complicity, saying displacement contravenes international humanitarian law, violates the four Geneva Conventions, and amounts to both a war crime and an act of ethnic cleansing.

Iran's Foreign Ministry also condemned what it called Israel's decision to "forcefully" relocate Palestinians from Gaza City. In a statement, Tehran said the move represented "a clear instance of war crimes and crimes against humanity, aimed at nothing but completing the genocide plan and the elimination of Palestine as a nation and identity."

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It said Israel's actions were made possible by "all-out arms and political support" from the United States and some European states, and urged Muslim countries and the wider international community to act immediately to halt "warmongering and genocide" against Palestinians.

On Saturday, Israel announced plans to relocate Gaza City residents to southern Gaza, days after signaling a new offensive to seize control of the north.

‘To take over Gaza City’

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said on Sunday that the army will "soon" begin a new offensive to take over Gaza City, the Gaza Strip's largest urban center, despite international warnings about the consequences for the already devastated enclave.

Zamir made the remarks during a field tour in the strip, where he spoke with senior commanders and outlined plans for the next stage of fighting, the military said.

"Soon we will move on to the next phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots," he said, referring to Israel's resumption of its offensive in March after ending a ceasefire that had included a phased hostage release.

In the coming stage, Zamir said, the army would "continue to enhance the strikes against Hamas in Gaza City until its decisive defeat," deploying "all its capabilities on land, in the air and at sea."

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He added that the military has a "moral obligation" to bring home hostages held in Gaza, both living and dead.

Hamas has condemned the plan, calling it a "new wave of genocide and displacement" for hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza City.

Aid packages airdropped into Gaza

A total of 161 packages containing food were airdropped over the Gaza Strip on Sunday during an aid operation carried out by nine countries, the Israeli military said, as famine continues to spread in the enclave after nearly two years of war.

Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and Indonesia joined the airdrop operation, the military said.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Armed Forces said in a statement that about 106 tonnes of food and relief supplies were dropped during the operation.

Israel's army said the operation was coordinated "in accordance with the directives from the political echelon," while rejecting accusations of deliberate starvation.

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The military began coordinating the airdrop of food packages in late July, under mounting international pressure as famine deepened in the enclave.

42 killed across Gaza

At least 42 Palestinians were killed Sunday in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, Gaza's Civil Defense said.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua that seven people were killed in Israeli shelling near the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, and at least one person was killed in an Israeli shelling of a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of the city.

Four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent housing displaced persons in west of Khan Younis, Basal said.

Twelve Palestinians were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on various areas of Khan Younis, while two separate airstrikes killed three people in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to Basal.

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At least 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire while waiting for aid in the central and southern Gaza Strip, he said.

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

Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 10,400 Palestinians have been killed and 43,845 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 61,944, with a total of 155,886 people injured, according to data released by health authorities in Gaza on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Gaza health authorities said that the hospitals in Gaza registered seven new deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children. That brought the total number of deaths from starvation and malnutrition to 258, including 110 children, since October 2023.