Israel to expand the military operation and grab ‘large areas’ from Gaza

The Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz says that the army will expand its operation in Gaza and will grab “large areas” of the territory – who include them in what he described as “safety zones”.

In a statement on Wednesday, Katz said the extensive operation Focused on “destroy the area of ​​terrorists and terrorist infrastructure,” and would require a large -scale evacuation of Palestinians.

It comes as local hospitals said that at least 15 Palestinians were killed in the territory at night.

The civil defense agency run by Hamas said that the first responds had found the bodies of 12 people, including children, from a house in the Khan Younis area.

There have been reports of extensive Israeli air strikes and shelling along the border with Egypt and there is a growing feeling that a new Major Israeli ground offensive looms up in Gaza.

This week, the army of Israel ordered an estimated 140,000 people in Rafah to leave their houses and published new evacuation -orders for parts of North Gaza.

Israel has already considerably expanded a buffer zone around the outskirts of Gaza in the course of the war and seized control of a corridor of land through the center.

Israel launched his renewed Gaza -Offensive on March 18 and blamed Hamas for rejecting a new American proposal to expand it -to extend the fires and free the 59 hostages who were still kept in captivity in Gaza.

Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of violating the original deal they had agreed in January.

The hostages and the missing family forum in Israel said they were “shocked to wake up” for the news of the extensive military operation. In a statement, the group urged the Israeli government to give priority to securing the release of all hostages that are still being held in Gaza.

In his statement in which plans were announced to grab more territory, Katz also insisted on Gazans to remove Hamas and remove freely remaining Israeli hostages, without suggesting how they should do this.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has been dramatically deteriorated in recent weeks, with Israel refusing to give help in the Gaza Strip since 2 March – the longest aid since the war began.

Last month, the UN announced that it reduced its activities in Gaza, one day after eight Palestinian Medici, six civil defense First Responders and a UN employee were killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza.

The Israeli army launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were held hostage.

More than 50,399 people were killed in Gaza during the following war, according to the Hamas-Runned Health Minister.