Israel’s military will expand operations and seize ‘large areas’ of Gaza, defense minister says

Israel’s military “will seize large areas” of Gaza and add them to the country’s security zones, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday as he called for a large-scale evacuation of its population. 

“Operation ‘Might and Sword’ in Gaza is expanding,” Israel Katz said in a statement. He went on to call on the residents of Gaza to “eliminate Hamas,” and return the remaining hostages.  

While Katz did not clarify how much land Israel intends to seize, his country’s military has renewed its military offensive in Gaza in recent weeks by expanding in the south and adding a large security area in the Netzarim corridor that cuts through the middle of the Strip.

Katz’s announcement came after the Israel Defense Forces issued sweeping evacuation orders on Monday, covering the majority of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. They directed the  population to head north to the al-Mawasi tent encampment. The camp was previously designated as a safe zone by the Israeli military, although several strikes hit the area. 

The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, a group that represents most of the families of those in Hamas captivity, said it was “horrified” by Katz’s announcement Wednesday.

“The Israeli government has an obligation to free all 59 hostages from Hamas captivity — to pursue every possible channel to advance a deal for their release,” it said in a statement, which also called on the Trump administration and mediator countries to continue exerting pressure on Hamas.

Israel has ramped up its military activity in Gaza since the first phase of a three-part ceasefire deal with Hamas came to an end on March 1. Over 42 days, Hamas released 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. 

Negotiations on the second phase of the deal, designed to establish a permanent ceasefire, have since stalled. Israel subsequently blocked the flow of aid and goods into Gaza while carrying out its military operation and hitting the enclave with regular airstrikes. 

In the 10 days leading up to Monday, at least 322 children have been killed and 609 injured in Gaza, the United Nations Children’s Fund said on March 31. 

Their deaths added to a toll which health officials in the Hamas-run enclave say has topped more than 50,000 people since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza after the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. About 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage that day, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s month-long aid blockade which came into effect March 2 is the longest since the war began. 

Aid group Doctors Without Borders called on the country to “end this inhumane siege” in a post on X Wednesday, adding that its teams were dressing wounds without pain killers and treating skin conditions with lotion. 

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday that all of its 25 bakeries in Gaza had shut down due to the lack of fuel and flour in the territory. 

“Hot meals are continuing, but supplies will last two weeks maximum,” it said in a post on X, adding that it would distribute its last food parcels in the next two days.

In response the Israeli military agency, COGAT, refuted this in a post on X Tuesday, saying that some 25,200 trucks had entered Gaza during the truce and that there was  “enough food for a long period of time, if Hamas lets the civilians have it.” 

But U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday dismissed this claim as “ridiculous,” adding that the “WFP doesn’t close its bakeries for fun.” 

“If there’s no flour, if there’s no cooking gas, the bakeries cannot open,” she added.