The Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday April 2 the extension of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip to seize “large areas” in order to create security areas, calling the Gazaouis to overthrow Hamas.
The military operation extends “to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure, and to seize vast areas that will be integrated into Israel’s safety areas,” he said in a statement. “I call the inhabitants of Gaza to act now to chase Hamas and make all the hostages,” he added.
The truce, which entered into force on January 19 after 15 months of war, collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed its air bombings and then its land offensive against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory. More than a thousand people have been killed since that date, according to Hamas authorities.
Israel Katz had already announced on March 21 that it had ordered the army to “seize more territories in Gaza”, threatening to annex the territory to Israel if the Islamist movement did not release the hostages still in its hands. “The more Hamas will continue to refuse to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” he said.
The “horrified” family forum
The Family Forum, the largest association of hostage relatives in Israel, said it was “horrified” on Wednesday by the announcement of the Minister of Defense. “Instead of freeing the hostages with an agreement and putting an end to the war, the Israeli government sends more soldiers to Gaza, to fight in the same areas where they fought again and again,” the families said. “Explain how this operation serves the objective of returning the hostages, and how you plan to avoid their endangerment,” they added.
Shortly after the announcement of Israel Katz, the Gaza Civil Defense rescuers announced that two Israeli strikes on dwellings had killed at least fifteen people, including children, in Khan Younès, in the South, and in the camp of Weseirat, in the center of the territory. Thirteen people were killed by a bombing that targeted “a house sheltering inappropriate people in the center of Khan Younès” and two others with a hit on a house in Weseirat, Mahmoud Bassal, the spokesperson for civil defense, told AFP.
Army spokesperson in Arabic language, Avichay Adree, spoke on Tuesday on X to the inhabitants of vast areas of Rafah and the city near Khan Younès. “Do not listen to Hamas’ attempts from preventing you from evacuating to remain his human shields. Immediately evacuate the designated areas,” he said, renewing an appeal already launched on Monday.
Since the resumption of fighting, 1,042 people have been killed, according to data published Tuesday by the Ministry of Health of Gaza, controlled by Hamas, bringing the total assessment to 50,399 dead since the war triggered by the attack on Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023. The attack on October 7 resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, in the majority of civilians, AFP based on official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped, 58 are still retained, in Gaza, 34 of which died according to the army.