Israel to expand Gaza military operation with large-scale evacuations

Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones, accompanied by large-scale evacuations of the population.

Israeli leaders have been encouraged by signs of protest in Gaza against Hamas, the militant group which has controlled the enclave since 2007, and the expanded operation appeared at least partly aimed at increasing civilian pressure on its leaders.

Defence minister Israel Katz said evacuations would take place from areas where there was fighting, while urging Gazans to eliminate Hamas and return Israeli hostages as the only way to end the war.

The Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the Al-Mawasi area on the shore, previously designated a humanitarian zone.

Israel's Army Radio said the 36th division, sent to the Southern Command area last month to prepare for operations in Gaza, would take part in the operation.

Katz's statement did not make clear how much land Israel intended to seize.

Israeli forces have set up a large buffer zone within Gaza, expanding an area that existed around the edges of the enclave before the war and adding a security area in the Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.

Israeli leaders have said they plan to facilitate voluntary departure of Palestinians from the enclave after US President Donald Trump called for it to be permanently evacuated and redeveloped as a coastal resort under US control.

Katz's remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated calls for Hamas to disarm and said the application of military pressure was the best way to get back the remaining 59 hostages.

“I call on the residents of Gaza to act to eliminate Hamas and return all the kidnapped,” Katz said, adding the operation would clear the area of militants and their infrastructure.

“This is the only way to end the war,” Katz said.

The Hostage Families' Forum, which represents the families of those being held in Gaza, said families were “horrified to wake up this morning” to the defence minister's announcement and said Israel was obligated to free all the hostages and “pursue every possible channel to advance a deal for their release”.

Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza last month and sent ground troops back in after two months of relative calm after the conclusion of a US-backed truce to allow the exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of the strikes and Israel has also cut off aid to the enclave, saying much of the material going in was taken by Hamas and used for its own members.

Efforts led by Qatari and Egyptian mediators to get talks aimed at ending the war back on track have so far failed to make progress.

As the operation in Gaza has escalated, Israel has also hit targets in southern Lebanon and Syria, with a strike on a Hezbollah commander in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday that added strain to the fraying ceasefire agreements that had largely halted fighting in January.

In addition, Israeli troops are carrying out a major operation in the occupied West Bank, which the military said is aimed at destroying Iranian-backed militant groups in the area's refugee camps.

Israel invaded Gaza after the devastating attack on communities in southern Israel by thousands of Hamas-led gunmen that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken as hostages into Gaza.

The Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, and ravaged the Gaza Strip, forcing almost the entire population of 2.3-million from their homes and leaving hundreds of thousands in tents and improvised shelters.

Reuters