Washington provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid annually, assistance that significantly increased following the start of Israel‘s war on Gaza in October 2023. It is understood Israel has used force displacement orders to squeeze Palestinions into increasingly smaller pockets of Gaza over the past few years, turing 86 per cent of the territory into militarised zones.

But increased military operations in the remaining part of the territory would further endanger the lives of Palestinians, who already endure daily disruption and Israeli-imposed starvation.

The worrying update was the first story discussed on the breakfast show on Friday (August 8) as Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello welcomed the Defence Editor at the Evening Standard, Robert Fox, onto the show to discuss the concerning news.

Ellie began: “Morning to you, Robert. This is a controversial escelation isn’t it?” which he agreed, stating: “It’s very controversial. It’s very much an open question as to whether it couldn’t succeed and the simple, tacticle answer is whether they can penetrate the tunnels.”

“But it has got quite a division among military circles in Israel. Now, does Netanyahu go on to fully occupy Gaza, yes it’s another spin and it’s very, very divisive because Israel is becoming increasingly isolated from the international stage, so the key figure in all this will be Donald Trump.”

Stephen added: “It’s very difficult to get our heads around how it could possibly work Robert, when you’ve got the IDF concerned about an expansion of military activity, you’ve got hostage families already out protesting against this. How can this work?”

The Defence Editor agreed: “Well you’ve absolutely laid it down the two tracks, the military track and the political one and the question of the hostages is a huge one.

“But can we just go to the whole business of occupation and how very, very difficult this is? Is Mr Netanyahu saying to the people, ‘The IDF, your citizen army, is now going to be involved in an open-ended occupation of Gaza?’ That is a very, very tall ask indeed and it’s very doubtful whether it could work completely in the long-term.”

One hour later, Sir Keir Starmer has since released a statement branding the decision “wrong” and urged country leaders to “reconsider immediately”. It read: “The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately.

“This aciton will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.” It didn’t take long before viewers flooded to X – formerly known as Twitter – to share their growing concerns online, with one posting: “Israel is the last barrier between Islam and Europe. If it fails, Europe will be under attack from outside and within.”

Another agreed: “Interesting perspective on the role of Donald Trump in the Gaza situation. The US influence could indeed be pivotal in the region’s future dynamics” as a third echoed: “We need peace in Gaza.”