The Israeli Defense Minister has announced a major expansion of the Israeli soil assault on Gaza, promising to grasp large areas of the Palestinian enclave and integrate them into so -called “security” areas.
Wednesday’s announcement came when the Israeli army killed more than 50 Palestinians during attacks in Gaza, including one which targeted a United Nations clinic. Israel also continued a total blockade of the band for a 31st day, forcing all the bakeries there to stop.
In a statement, the Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said that Israeli troops would move to erased areas “terrorists and infrastructure, and would capture an extensive territory which will be added to the state of Israel’s security zones”. He also called on the Palestinians to Gaza to eliminate Hamas and release the remaining Israeli captives held in the territory, to end the war.
Katz, however, did not specify the amount of land that Israel intends to grasp.
The Israeli army has already set up an important buffer zone in Gaza, expanding an area that existed around the edges of the enclave before the war, and adding a large area in the so-called Netzarim corridor in the middle of the territory.
Its renewed aggression is part of a campaign of “maximum pressure” aimed at forcing Hamas to renegotiate the cease-fire agreement entirely agreed in January. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wishes Hamas to disclose the 59 Israeli captives remaining in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza, but without committing to end the war and withdraw the troops from the enclave.
Hamas, however, insisted on the return of the agreement previously agreed and proposed to release all the captives at the same time for a permanent ceasefire.
Israel replied by resuming his bombing of Gaza and killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, since March 18.
Gideon Levy, columnist of the Israeli media Haaretz, said that he saw no end for blood effusion.
“Hamas will not give up because they have nothing to lose. And Israel cannot be arrested,” Levy told Tel Aviv Tribune. “We are in a situation of despair. A continuous war without any objective. The baton continues without any purposes. ”
Palestinians in motion
On Monday, the Israeli army ordered all residents of Rafah in the south of Gaza to flee and Tuesday, it widened the forced displacement notices at Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and neighboring areas north of the enclave.
According to the Times of Israel, the army deployed its 36th division in Gaza for the extended offensive, and the soldiers entered the band early Wednesday morning.
Dozens of Palestinian families in the Khirbet Al-Adas region in Rafah told Tel Aviv Tribune that they had been trapped by the Israeli assault and launched a distress call, attracting international aid to evacuate them in safety.
Palestinian doctors said Wednesday victims included 12 people killed when Israeli forces targeted a building in southern Khan Younis. At least 19 others, including nine children, were killed during an attack on a United Nations clinic in Jabalia, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Tareq Abu Azzoum of Tel Aviv Tribune, signaling Deir El-Balah, in the center of Gaza, said that the people of Rafah, where victims were also reported, fled with the little that they could bring together their personal effects. A year ago, the city, located on the border of Gaza with Egypt, housed some 1.4 million people, including more than a million which had been moved by Israeli attacks elsewhere in the enclave.
But Israel invaded the city in May, forcing almost its entire population. According to United Nations estimates, only 50,000 stayed there by July.
Residents only started to return after the Israeli army withdrew partly following the ceasefire in January.
“And now people are in motion again. Knowing very well that nowhere in Gaza,” said Abu Azzoum.
He noted media reports in the United States and Israel which said that the Israeli army aimed to capture around 25% of the Gaza territory as part of its Hamas pressure campaign.
“Many Palestinians believe that this is only the start of the plan to make the mass movement of the population of the whole Gaza band in Egypt. This is something that we have heard several times from the Israeli Prime Minister and was supported by the United States,” he said. “The scope of these operations is concentrated in Rafah, the eastern part of Khan Younis and the central areas, as well as all the border towns and villages located in northern Gaza,” he added.
‘Flee under gunshots’
The United Nations Humanitarian Agency (OCHA), on the other hand, said in an article on X that “tens of thousands of civilians flee Rafah under gunshots”.
An elderly man told the agency that Israeli forces had shot him and other civilians when they fled.
“Some were injured and howling, but I couldn’t watch out of fear,” he said in the video.
“I had nothing with me,” said another woman. “We left and climbed the sand dunes. We walked. When I escaped, the tanks (Israeli) burned tents along the road. ”
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Tens of thousands of civilians flee rafah under gunshots.#Gaza continues to be one of the most dangerous places in the world.
The entrance to the aid has been blocked for almost a month. Humanitarian workers should be allowed to provide help. pic.twitter.com/iqajnbovsp
– a humanitarian (@Uunocha) April 1, 2025
The renewed offensive also aroused criticism from the interior of Israel.
The families of Israeli captives said they were “horrified to wake up” at the announcement of the Minister of Defense.
“Has been decided to sacrifice the hostages for” territorial gains “?” ” The group said in a press release.
“Instead of obtaining the release of the hostages by an agreement and putting an end to the war, the Israeli government sends more soldiers to Gaza to fight in the same areas where battles have already taken place on several occasions,” he said. “The responsibility for the release of the 59 hostages held by Hamas lies in the Israeli government. Our serious concern is that this mission was pushed to the bottom of its priorities and has simply become a secondary objective.”
The assault of Israel also occurs while all the Gaza bakeries closed, citing shortages of flour and cooking gas, a month after the Israeli blockade. These include 25 bakeries managed by the World Food Program.
Hamas, in a statement on Wednesday, said that the hunger crisis in Gaza had reached a “famine phase”.
Israel is full responsibility for “catastrophic human consequences increasing by the time,” added the group, noting that no food, water, fuel or medication has entered the band since Israel imposed a total blockage on March 2.
The UN also called upon the end of the siege and a return to the ceasefire.
Stéphane Dujarric, body spokesperson, also rejected Israeli claims that there was enough food in Gaza as “ridiculous”.
“We are at the end of our supplies which have entered the humanitarian road … You know, the WFP does not close its bakeries for pleasure.”
“(During the ceasefire), we saw floods of Gaza humanitarian aid. We saw markets come back to life. We have seen the prices drop. We saw released hostages. We have seen released Palestinian detainees. We have to come back,” said Dujarric.