Israel’s military operation in Gaza Strip expanding to seize 'large
areas,' defense minister says
[April 02, 2025]
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is
expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said Wednesday.
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 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 possible channel to
advance a deal for their release,” and stressed that every passing day
puts their loved ones' lives at greater risk.
[to top of second column]
|
Displaced Palestinians carry water in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on
Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
“Their lives hang in the balance as more and more disturbing details
continue to emerge about the horrific conditions they’re being held
in — chained, abused, and in desperate need of medical attention,”
said the forum, which called on the Trump administration and other
mediators to continue pressuring Hamas to release the hostages.
“Our highest priority must be an immediate deal to bring ALL
hostages back home — the living for rehabilitation and those killed
for proper burial — and end this war,” the group said.
Israel continued to target the Gaza Strip, with airstrikes overnight
killing 17 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, hospital
officials said.
Officials at the Nasser Hospital said the bodies of 12 people killed
in an overnight airstrike that were brought to the hospital included
five women, one of them pregnant, and two children. Officials at the
Gaza European Hospital said they received five bodies of people
killed in two separate airstrikes.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on
Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
taking 251 hostages.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians,
including hundreds killed in strikes since a ceasefire ended about
two weeks ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t
say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it
has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
