The Israeli military said its troops were working to "dismantle Hamas military capabilities", adding its forces were taking precautions "to mitigate civilian harm".

The plan, if carried further, would envisage people moving from an enclave shattered by almost two years of war with Israel to a nation in the heart of Africa riven by years of political and ethnically-driven violence.

First emerging in the 19th century as a Zionist, messianic vision of Israel’s borders, the term Greater Israel according to traditional texts referred the totality of area stretching from “the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates”, or present-day Gaza, West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

The team departed Jakarta on Thursday and will be deployed in El Arish, Egypt, and Rafah, Gaza, to treat Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks.

Nine Indonesian and three Pakistani crew members have been abandoned aboard a ship after the shipowner prevented them from disembarking or transferring to another ship.

Boxes of Gaza-bound aid turned back by Israel on Sunday languished atop a truck and flatbed trailer parked meters from its border with Egypt, as exasperated drivers and UN officials criticized delays in sending food and medicine to the enclave.

Indonesia has deployed the Garuda Merah Putih II team on its second humanitarian mission to Gaza, this time to air-drop aid packages using two Hercules transport aircraft over 12 days to help starving Palestinians as Israel maintains its blockade on the territory.

Luxon told reporters that the lack of humanitarian assistance, the forceful displacement of people and the annexation of Gaza were utterly appalling and that Netanyahu had gone way too far. 

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his vision of victory in Gaza following 22 months of war --- with the military ordered to attack the last remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the central camps further south.

Several countries, including France, Britian and Canada, have announced plans to recognize statehood for Palestinians since Israel launched a bombardment of Gaza nearly two years ago in response to the Hamas attacks.

The attack was the latest to see journalists targeted in the 22-month war in Gaza, with around 200 media workers killed over the course of the conflict, according to media watchdogs.

The Israeli military admitted in a statement to targeting Anas al-Sharif, the reporter it labelled as a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas.

A plan for a major military offensive proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupy Gaza further is a violation of international laws and a set of United Nations charters, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, a day after the Israeli government vowed to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.

The territory is home to about three million Palestinians. Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, it is also home to around half a million Israelis living in settlements considered illegal under international law. 

Merz said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the latest Israeli military plan would help achieve the aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce to pull the territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants.

Following its July 2 delivery to the Indonesian Navy from Milan-based shipyard Fincantieri, multipurpose combat ship KRI Brawijaya conducted a mid-ocean rendezvous and passing exercise with Sigma-class corvette KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda on Aug. 2 on the Mediterranean Sea.

"The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," Netanyahu's office said in a statement, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces.

The presidential palace said injured Gazans will be treated on Galang Island in Riau Islands, based on an order from President Prabowo Subianto, while Foreign Minister Sugiono said that authorities are still looking for other alternatives and the plan is far from being finalized.

Indonesia has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, whether fighters or non-combatants.

A widening of the war "would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza," Miroslav Jenca, UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, told a Security Council meeting.

Indonesia is hoping to deliver its humanitarian aid to Gaza, including 10,000 tonnes of rice, via land routes instead of high-risk airdrops, as access to the besieged exclave remains severely limited amid Israel’s renewed military operations.

Hostage families and peace activists want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 Hamas attacks.

Indonesia’s top diplomat reaffirmed the country’s commitment to not displacing Palestinians from war-torn Gaza, amid reports that Jakarta had already agreed to do otherwise, along with several other countries.

Under a delicate decades-old "status quo" arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.

The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory.

More countries have announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state, winning applause from Indonesia, which called on other countries to follow suit in an effort to create a lasting peace in Gaza.

Canada plans to recognize the State of Palestine at a meeting of the United Nations in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in Gaza.

The potentially landmark move, part of Starmer's plan for a "lasting peace", came after the British leader recalled his cabinet from recess for urgent talks on the worsening situation in the besieged territory.