Israels military operation in Gaza growing to seize large areas as UNRWA strike reportedly kills kids
Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said, while officials at hospitals inside the Palestinian territory said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 30 people, nearly a dozen of them children.Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory was “expanding to crush and clean the area” of militants and “seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement.The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded it since the war began in 2023.Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.Katz didn’t specify which areas of Gaza would be seized in the expanded operation, which he said includes the “extensive evacuation” of the population from fighting areas.
His statement came after Israel ordered the full evacuation of the southern city of Rafah and nearby areas.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel aims to maintain an open-ended but unspecified security control of the Gaza Strip once it achieves its aim of crushing Hamas.The minister called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.” The militant group still holds 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to still be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.“This is the only way to end the war,” Katz said.The Hostage Families Forum, which represents most captives’ families, said that it was “horrified to wake up this morning to the Defense Minister’s announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza.”The group said the Israeli government “has an obligation to free all 59 hostages from Hamas captivity — to pursue every possibl...