Israel calls up 60,000 reservists

GAZA, Aug 20 (BBC/AFP): The Israeli military says it is calling up about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City. A military official said the reservists would report for duty in September and that most of the troops mobilised for the offensive would be active-duty personnel.

They added that troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas as part of the preparations for the plan, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza.

Many of Israel's allies have condemned the plan, while the UN and non-governmental organisations have warned that another offensive and further mass displacement will have a "horrific humanitarian impact" after 22 months of war.

Israel's government announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month.

Regional mediators are trying to secure an agreement before the offensive begins and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza, which Hamas said it had accepted on Monday.

Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released. Only 20 of the hostages are believed to be alive.

Israel approves major West

Bank settlement project

Israel approved a major settlement project on Wednesday in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12 square kilometres (five square miles) known as E1 that lie just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition.

Critics say the settlement would undermine hopes for a contiguous Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Last week, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich backed plans to build some 3,400 homes on the ultrasensitive parcel of land that lies between Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that constructing Israeli homes there would "put an end to" hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I am pleased to announce that just a short while ago, the civil administration approved the planning for the construction of the E1 neighbourhood," the mayor of Maale Adumim said.