Israeli activists storm live broadcast to protest Gaza war expansion

Israeli peace activists stormed a live television broadcast on Saturday evening to protest against the intensification of the Gaza war.

During a vote on the show "Big Brother," several young people wearing white T-shirts with the slogan "Leaving Gaza" leapt onto the stage and sat down demonstratively on the floor.

"The people demand: Stop the shooting!" the activists shouted repeatedly as they were carried away by security guards.

The organization Standing Together, which campaigns for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, claimed responsibility for the protest.

"While hostages are left to die and children are dying of hunger just an hour's drive from the 'Big Brother' studios, the media are not telling the people what is happening in Gaza and are broadcasting to citizens that everything is normal," the group said on its Facebook page.

If Israel's government abandons the hostages and continues its "campaign of destruction and starvation in Gaza" in the name of a dream of conquest and settlement, "business as usual" cannot go on, the statement continued.

The war can only be stopped if everyone interrupts their own routines, it stressed: "We must prevent the government from continuing its war plans, which harm us all – and stop them now."

Israel's Security Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a new offensive to seize Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the war-shattered Palestinian territory.