Wednesday 2,April -2025 {HMC} Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the military will expand its operation in Gaza and seize “large areas” of the territory – incorporating them into what he described as “security zones.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Katz said the expanded operation aimed to “destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”, and would require a large-scale evacuation of Palestinians.
It comes as local hospitals said at least 15 Palestinians were killed in the territory overnight.
The Hamas-run civil defence agency said first responders had recovered the bodies of 12 people, including children, from a home in the Khan Younis area.
There have been reports of extensive Israeli air strikes and shelling along the Egypt border and there is a growing sense that a new major Israeli ground offensive is looming in Gaza.
This week, Israel’s military ordered an estimated 140,000 people in Rafah to leave their homes and issued new evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza.
