JERUSALEM: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday a major expansion of a military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying the army would seize “large areas” of the Palestinian territory.
The defence chief said in a statement that Israel would expand its presence in Gaza to “destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.
The expanded operation would “seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones”, he said, without saying how much territory Israel would take.
The announcement comes after he warned last week the Israeli military would soon “operate with full force” in additional parts of Hamas-run Gaza.
In February, Katz announced plans to set up an agency for the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
That came after Israel expressed a commitment to a proposal from US President Donald Trump to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants.
Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire with Hamas.
Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 15 people, including children, were killed in Israeli air strikes on homes in Khan Yunis and the Nuseirat refugee camp at dawn on Wednesday.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said on Tuesday that 1,042 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed military operations.
- UN condemns Israeli attack -
The idea of forcing Gazans to leave the devastated territory for neighbouring countries, including Egypt and Jordan, was first floated by Trump.
It has since been seized on by right-wing Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to implement it.
On Sunday, the prime minister offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms.
Netanyahu has rejected domestic criticism that his government -- one of the most right-wing in Israel's history -- was not doing enough to secure the release of hostages.
“We are negotiating under fire... We can see cracks beginning to appear” in Hamas’s positions during ceasefire talks, he told his cabinet.
In the “final stage”, Netanyahu said “Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave”.
Hamas has expressed a willingness to step down from ruling Gaza, but has warned its weapons are a “red line”.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to again broker a ceasefire and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
A senior Hamas official said on Saturday that the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators, and urged Israel to support it.
Netanyahu's office confirmed receipt of the proposal and said Israel had submitted a counterproposal in response.
The details of the latest mediation efforts have not been disclosed.
The United Nations on Tuesday strongly condemned an Israeli army attack on an emergency convoy that killed 15 aid workers and medical personnel, and demanded an investigation.
“I condemn the attack by the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on 23 March resulting in the killing of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza,“ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.
The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 50,399 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the latest health ministry toll.
