At least 73 people were killed in the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Agency, and Israel launched a major expansion of military operations.
The recent ceasefire has become a distant memory of coastal enclaves after Israel announced plans to build another security corridor, and the military said it has surrounded part of the southern Gaza city of Rafa.
More than 100,000 people in the Southern Gaza Strip have fled Israeli attacks over the past two days, the UN said in a statement.
The news came, another large demonstration against Hamas, where the Gaza War took place in the Northern Gaza Strip.
Witnesses told the DPA that hundreds of people, including women and children, called on the Palestinian Islamic Organization to withdraw.
The protests took place in the ruins of the city of Beit Lahia, and also opposed the U.S. plan to relocate residents as part of a long-term cessation of hostilities.
Instead, the war began after an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023, with a major shift in hostage release and other obstacle points as trust breaks down between the Israelis and Hamas.
“The only thing that can stop us from moving further is the release of the hostages,” Chief of Israel’s General Staff Herzi Halevi said in a statement on a visit to Rafah.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported deadly attacks by Khan Younis in the south and al-Sawaida in the central Gaza Strip.
In addition, many deaths occurred in Jabalia, north of the territory, when Israeli air strikes attacked a clinic conducted by the UN Relief and Engineering Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Here, at least 19 were killed. These numbers do not distinguish between civilians or combatants and cannot be verified independently.
Morag Corridor of Israeli attractions
Israeli Defense Minister Katz has earlier announced a new raid in the Gaza Strip aimed at “suppressing and cleaning up terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.”
The Defense Minister called on residents of the coastal zone to “take action now to remove Hamas and return to all hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”
The operation will “grab the large area that will be added to Israel’s security zones”, he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later added more details to the video address.
“We are conquering the Morag corridor,” he said.
Morag was once an Israeli settlement in the southern Palestinian territory. According to Israeli media reports, this route separates the city of Rafa from the city of Khan Yunis.
Netanyahu said the zoning of the Gaza Strip increased pressure on Hamas until the Palestinian Islamic group released the remaining hostages.
The Israeli military has controlled a large part of the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a strategic pathway that divides the coastal zone into the north and the south.
Netanyahu said: “Tonight, we have transferred equipment on the Gaza Strip. Israeli armed forces are captive in the area and attacking terrorists.”
After months of conflict, a ceasefire in Gaza on January 19 prompted many displaced residents to return to their hometowns.
But in mid-March, Israel resumed large-scale air strikes after reaching an agreement on the conditions for the ceasefire after failing to reach an agreement with Hamas. Since then, Israel has also begun ground operations.
More than 50,100 people have been killed so far, one-third of them children and young people, according to Hamas’ health control authorities in Gaza.
International organizations such as the United Nations believe that these figures are largely credible.
