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London – Israel’s renovated military operation in Gaza’s Strip “expands to crush and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and to seize large areas that will be annexed in the security areas of the State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
The minister said that “a large -scale evacuation of the Gazan population from the combat areas” is accompanying the extended military campaign in the strip.
“I urge the Gaza residents to act now to remove Hamas and return all the abducted,” Katz added. “This is the only way to end war.”
Israel resumed its attack on neighboring gas in March after a pause of nearly two months, during which 33 Israeli hostages were released from Hamas in exchange for about 1800 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Associated Press.
Israel wants the immediate release of all other hostages, resulting in 59 people, 24 of whom are still thought to be alive-who were taken back to Gaza during the Hamas’s surprising attack against South Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Palestinians inspect the place of an Israeli blow to a house in Khan Eunice in the southern Gaza strip on April 1, 2025.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he had ordered renewed strikes after Hamas refused Israeli wanted to release half of the other hostages as a prerequisite for prolonging the termination of fire, the first phase that expires on March 1.
The updated operations of Israel in Gaza have caused condemnation by regional forces, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Israeli government spokesman David Menzer said the renewal was “fully coordinated with Washington.”
Israeli leaders consistently expressed their intention to completely destroy Hamas and remove the Palestinian militant group from power in Gaza. Israel intends to maintain security control over the territory as part of any post -war settlement, Netanyahu, Katz and other senior officials said.
Last month, Katz also announced the establishment of a new directorate within the Israeli Ministry of Defense to facilitate “voluntary emigration” from Strip. The work of the Directorate is aligned with the proposal of US President Donald Trump to move out of Gaza, Katz said in February.
The Palestinians, the United Nations organization and human rights organizations have suggested that the US and Israel resettlement policy is close to “ethnic cleansing”. Israel denied such allegations.
Gaza was devastated by the war that was caused by a terrorist attack on October 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed in Israel, according to the Israeli government.
The subsequent operations of Israel in Gaza killed more than 50,300 people and injured over 114,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 1,000 people were killed after the resumption of Israeli strikes on March 18, the ministry said.
ABC News Morgan Winsor contributed to this report
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