(Al Jazeera Media Network) Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip has continued for a fourth day as its ground forces expand their operations in northern and southern Gaza and the Israeli defence minister threatens to seize land in the coastal enclave.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that Israeli forces would “intensify” the military campaign against Hamas and use “all military and civilian pressure, including evacuation of the Gaza population south and implementing United States President [Donald] Trump’s voluntary migration plan for Gaza residents.”
Katz instructed the army “to seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and [Israeli army] soldiers,” local media quoted him as saying.
He also warned that Israel would seize land in Gaza until Hamas agrees to release all captives still held in the Strip.
“The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” Katz was quoted by The Jerusalem Post newspaper as saying.
“If the hostages are not released, Israel will continue to take more and more territory in the Strip for permanent control.”
As Israeli ground forces pressed deeper into Gaza, Israeli jets continued bombardment of the enclave. Five people, including three children, were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit a house in the Tuffah district of Gaza City in the enclave’s north, while two people – a woman and her daughter – were killed by tank fire in Abassan near Khan Younis in the south, according to Palestinian medics.
Later, the Israeli military said it had intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza after alerts were activated in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. No Palestinian group immediately claimed responsibility.
The developments come after Israeli troops invaded the Shaboura area of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city near the Egyptian border, and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, late on Thursday. Earlier this week, Israel said it had closed off the territory’s main north-south route as part of its expanding ground operations.
