Netanyahu plans to take control of Gaza City

The UN Security Council will meet later today to discuss Israel's plans. Speaking ahead of the meeting the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, described it as a "dangerous escalation" that risked worsening conditions for Palestinians. We are joined by Chuck Freilich, former Deputy National Security Adviser in Israel.

Also in the programme: The war in Gaza has prompted demonstrations in cities across the world. In London, the protests will be focused not on Israel's government but on the United Kingdom's; and, mobile phones have made domestic landline telephones increasingly rare. But in one US city, they're making something of a comeback.

Presenter Shaun Ley is joined by Nelufar Hedayat, a British-Afghan journalist, documentary maker and podcaster and Jonathan Goodman, a social scientist based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge here in the UK.

(Aftermath of a morning Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City. 8 August 2025 / Reuters)