Israel’s navy offensive within the Gaza Strip is increasing to “crush” the realm of Hamas terrorists and seize “large areas,” Protection Minister Israel Katz stated Wednesday.
Katz stated in a press release that the navy operation was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel.”
Israel’s safety perimeter, which runs alongside the border with Israel in northern and jap Gaza, has been used for many years as a approach to defend its residents residing close to the territory.
It’s unclear which areas of Gaza will likely be seized within the expanded operation, which Katz says contains the “extensive evacuation” of individuals from areas the place combating is going on.
ISRAELI FORCES ORDER EVACUATION FOR MOST OF RAFAH AHEAD OF ATTACK ON THE AREA
Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz stated Israel’s navy offensive within the Gaza Strip is increasing to grab “large areas.” (REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
The minister known as on Gaza’s inhabitants to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.” The fear group nonetheless has 59 hostages, together with 24 who’re believed to nonetheless be alive. A lot of the different captives have been launched in ceasefire agreements or different offers.
“This is the only way to end the war,” Katz stated.
The Hostage Households Discussion board, which represents many of the hostages’ households, stated it was “horrified to wake up this morning to the Defense Minister’s announcement about expanding military operations in Gaza.”
The Israeli authorities “has an obligation to free all 59 hostages from Hamas captivity — to pursue every possible channel to advance a deal for their release,” the group stated, emphasizing that each passing day places the captives’ lives at elevated danger.
“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,” the group stated.
Displaced Palestinians carry water in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
“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,” it added.
The discussion board additionally known as on the Trump administration and different mediators to “continue exerting pressure on Hamas for the immediate release of our loved ones.”
“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 stated.
Israel continued to assault the Gaza Strip, together with with in a single day airstrikes that killed 17 folks within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis, in line with hospital officers.
NETANYAHU ACCUSES ISRAELI POLICE OF TRYING TO ‘TOPPLE’ HIS GOVERNMENT
Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on the outskirts of Gaza Metropolis, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Officers on the Nasser Hospital stated the our bodies of 12 folks killed in an in a single day airstrike have been dropped at the hospital, together with 5 ladies — one among whom was pregnant — and two youngsters. Officers on the Gaza European Hospital stated 5 our bodies of individuals killed in two separate airstrikes have been taken to the hospital.
The warfare started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a shock assault towards Israel, killing round 1,200 folks and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed greater than 50,000 Palestinians, together with a whole bunch killed in airstrikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks in the past, in line with the Hamas-run authorities’s Gaza Well being Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and terrorists. Israel claims, with out providing proof, that it has killed roughly 20,000 terrorists within the warfare.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
