Israel's far right pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go harder against Hamas, ahead of a UN Security Council meeting Sunday on the premier's plan to conquer Gaza City.

Over 22 months into the war in Gaza, Israel is gripped by a yawning divide, pitting those calling for an end of the conflict along with a deal for the release of the hostages against others who want to see Hamas vanquished once and for all.

The debate has only intensified after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet announced plans Friday to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump's administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.

By Alexander Cornwell

TEL AVIV (Reuters) -Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to escalate the nearly two-year Gaza war, demanding an immediate end to the campaign and for the release of the hostages.

(Reuters) -Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah on Saturday criticised UEFA's tribute to the late Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as the "Palestinian Pele," after European soccer's governing body failed to reference the circumstances surrounding his death this week.

The Palestine Football Association said that Al-Obeid, 41, was killed by an Israeli strike targeting civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

Thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call for an end to the war in Gaza, a day after the Israeli government vowed to expand the conflict and capture Gaza City.

Demonstrators waved signs and held up pictures of hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory as they called on the government to secure their release.

AFP journalists at the rally estimated the number of attendees to be in the tens of thousands, while a group representing the families of hostages said as many as 100,000 people participated.

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -As a crowd looked on, uniformed Taliban surrounded the Toyota Landcruiser in which Mahmood Habibi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, sat. Other Taliban smashed open the door of his Kabul apartment, emerging later with his laptop and papers.

Blindfolded in the back seat, Habibi and his driver were driven off by gunmen sporting shoulder patches of the Taliban's feared secret police, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), according to several witness statements in U.S. government possession seen by Reuters.

Police in London arrested 466 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws.

The Metropolitan Police said it had made the arrests, thought to be one of the highest number ever at a single protest in the UK capital, for "supporting a proscribed organisation".

It also arrested eight people for other offences including five for alleged assaults on officers, though none were seriously injured, it added.

By Andrew Osborn

(Reuters) -A peace push backed by U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Azerbaijan and Armenia just one step from a final peace deal and is a paradigm shift in the strategically important South Caucasus region, a top Azerbaijani diplomat said on Saturday.

Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on Friday and witnessed their signing of a joint declaration aimed at drawing a line under their decades-long on-off conflict.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia condemns and rejects Israel's plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza Strip, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"The implementation of such decisions and plans, which provoke condemnation and rejection, is fraught with the risk of exacerbating the already extremely dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which has all the hallmarks of a humanitarian catastrophe," the ministry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Mark Potter)

LONDON (Reuters) -More than 50 people protesting against Britain's decision to ban the Palestine Action group were arrested outside parliament on Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.