Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday that Israel is seizing the territory in the hours of Gaza Strip after his government had presented plans to take a large part of the enclave.
The announcement adds to the growing drum by Israeli officials in the last few days who have suggested that Israel would have changed tactics to hold the territory in Gaza, at least temporarily, in an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to free the remaining hostages. The officials also affirmed a post -war vision of the post -war Gaza in which the Palestinians would move elsewhere – an idea rejected vehemently by most of the world.
Keeping the territory, said Netanyahu, it was intended to push Hamas to return at least 59 hostages remaining the group and its allies captured on October 7, 2023. “The pressure will increase until it deliver them,” he said in a filmed declaration.
In the 15 -month military campaign that preceded a January truce, the Israeli forces stormed the cities of Gazan before retiring, leaving behind the vast destruction but allowing the Palestinian militants to grouped in the rubble.
In the weeks following the ceased the fire took hold, many Gazas returned home, but Israel resumed his attacks in mid -March.
Now, the military seem to plan the parking forces in the captured territory. On Wednesday the Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said that the newly captured areas would be “added to the safety areas” that the military currently maintain in Gaza, including a bearing along the boundaries of the Encyclist with Egypt and Israel, and much of a key road in the center of the enclave.
Netanyahu said that Israel would establish a corridor, which he mentioned would cut the territory in the southern city of Rafah from the rest of the strip. The so -called Morag corridor seemed to take its name from an ex -Israeli settlement in the south of Gaza, from which Israel retired in 2005.
It was not clear how big the corridor was or how long Israel intended to keep it. The military said that he would not provide details beyond the declaration of Mr. Netanyahu.
In the northern city of Beit Lahia, the Palestinians took to the streets to protest against war and invite Hamas to give up power.
“Hamas Out”, the demonstrators sang on Wednesday at the event. “Enough death,” they shouted.
At the beginning of this week, Mr. Netanyahu established the requests of a post -war Gaza, including Hamas who settles his arms, Israeli security control in Gaza and what he called the voluntary migration for Gazens.
It is not clear whether the recent moves from Israeli are equivalent to pressure on Hamas to negotiate and make concessions or indicate a more complete plan for Gaza. In both cases, Israel would face significant rejection and is not sure if both sides can force the other to accept its terms for an agreement with military means.
Netanyahu repeatedly influenced the end of the war to dismantling the military wing and the government of Hamas, but his comments offered a detailed vision of how he thought he could be achieved.
For their part, Hamas officials rejected the ideas asking them to give up their weapons, send their leaders in exile or accept Gaza’s depopulation. Hamas asks for the end of the war and a complete Israeli retirement in exchange for the release of all the hostages still held in Gaza.
Even if the Palestinians were authorized to leave Gaza or had been forced, it is not clear where they would be able to reset. The Arab countries, including the nearby Egypt, rejected the proposals for the first time publicly floated by President Trump to transfer them to their ground, with some who call ideas are equivalent to ethnic cleaning.
The Israeli army resumes its attacks against Hamas in Gaza on March 18 after Israel and Hamas were unable to reach an agreement to extend the ceased the fire that began in January.
On Wednesday, the Israeli forces hit a United Nations building in the northern city of Jabaliya, where several hundred people were being raised, said Juliette Touma, spokesman for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli army said she had attacked the Hamas militants who hide within a “command and control” center, without providing tests. Israel accused Hamas of incorporating into civil areas.
The Palestinian civil defense, an emergency rescue service under the Ministry of the Interior managed by Hamas, declared in a declaration that seven people had been killed. The group does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its counting.
Since the ceased the fire collapsed, the Israeli forces have gone more deeply in the Gaza Strip, even in the southern city of Rafah, although they did not sweep away through the Palestinian cities as they did before the respite. Both parties spoke with the mediators of a potential agreement to stop the fighting, so far without success.
The Israeli army has issued large evacuation orders for Gaza parts. More than 200,000 people in the enclave have been displaced since the ceased the fire broke, according to the United Nations.
Gaza health officials say that more than 50,000 people have been killed in the Enclave since the war began after the attack led by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. That attack killed 1,200 people and saw 250 took hostage to Gaza.
Gabby Sobelman, The cartilage of Sheikh Ahmad AND Johnatan Reiss Contributed relationships.