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The operation “will aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians,� the statement said.

“The plans that the Government of Israel has announced risk violating international law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.�

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he has no intention of annexing or occupying building settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Instead, Friday, the military operation his government signed off on was intended “to free Gaza from Hamas.�

“Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization,� he wrote.

“This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.�

This week, a group of Israeli legal scholars wrote to Netanyahu to say that continuation or expansion of the war in Gaza risked leaving senior government official liable to criminal prosecution, .

“The use of force that exceeds the bounds of proportionality and cannot achieve the aim of self-defence is unlawful, and in certain circumstances even a crime, under the most severe categories of the laws governing the use of force and international criminal law,â€� the scholars wrote.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a press conference Friday that Canada was “working on multiple fronts to try to bring a level of stability to the region, then security, then peace to the region.�

And in a later statement, he condemned the Israeli government’s plans to scale up military operations, saying it would neither relieve the “humanitarian horror� in Gaza nor lessen the suffering of Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians.

Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, announced that it would halt arms sales to Israel in reaction to the cabinet decision.

There is also domestic opposition to the Netanyahu government’s plan.

Israeli media reports say that both the head of the Israeli Defense Force and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser opposed the plan on the grounds that it could put the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages at risk. About 50 have not been returned, while an estimated 20 are believed to be still alive, held in captivity by Hamas operatives and other militant groups.

The decision to move Israeli troops back into Gaza City and escalate the war once again has reportedly set off a flurry of diplomatic activity, with the United States and Qatar apparently discussing a deal to release all of the remaining Israeli hostages in return for a definitive ending to the nearly two-year war.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday said the new adult deaths from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours brought the total to 114 since it began counting such deaths in June. It said that 98 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began.

The toll from hunger isn’t included in the ministry’s death toll of 61,300 Palestinians in the war. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, doesn’t distinguish between fighters or civilians, but says around half of the dead have been women and children.

With files from the Associated Press