Defence minister says seized lands will be added to 'security zones of the State of Israel’
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Israel is expanding its offensive in Gaza to seize “large areas” of the Strip, the country’s defence minister has said, as he called on Palestinians living in the territory to “expel Hamas and return all hostages”.
Israel Katz said the major expansion of the military operation was to “crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure” and seize lands that will be added to what he called the “security zones of the State of Israel".
Palestinian groups still hold 59 Israelis taken hostage on 7 October 2023, of whom 24 are still believed to be alive, after the majority of the hostages were released in a ceasefire agreement with the Israeli government.
The announcement comes just days after Israel issued sweeping evacuation orders covering most of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The military ordered Palestinians to head to Muwasi, a sprawl of tent camps along the coast.
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