The leaders of Britain, Canada and France threatened sanctions against Israel on Monday if it does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions, piling further pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli military announced the start of a new operation on Friday, and earlier on Monday Netanyahu said Israel would take control of the whole of Gaza, Reuters reported. 

International experts have already warned of looming famine.

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” a joint statement released by the British government said.

“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”

In response, Netanyahu said that “the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities”.

He said Israel will defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved, reiterating Israel’s conditions to end the war which include the release of the remaining hostages and the demilitarization of the Gaza strip.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March to try to pressure Hamas into freeing the hostages the Palestinian militant group took on October 7, 2023, when it attacked Israeli communities.

“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate,” the three Western leaders said in the joint statement. 

They said they would not stand by while Netanyahu’s government pursued “these egregious actions.”

They stated their support for efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and said they were committed to recognising a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution to the conflict.

Hamas welcomed the joint statement describing the stance as “an important step” in the right direction toward restoring the principles of international law.

Israel’s ground and air war has devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its residents and killing more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

The war began with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the U.S. president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region, Reuters reported.

On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children”.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a U.S. proposal for its nuclear programme or “something bad’s going to happen”.

His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.

“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumour that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious centre in Tehran, according to state media.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats, read the report.

“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”

Tehran would continue Iran-U.S. nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.

While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a U.S. proposal about its nuclear programme, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.

Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.

“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.

Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.

“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.

A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.

A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.

He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions”.

Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table”.

The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.

The return to negotiations also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.