By Isaac Sharf and Wafaa Shurafa
Jerusalem (AP) – The Military Operation of Israel in the Gaza Strip is developing to grasp “large areas,” said the Minister of Defense, while hospital officials in the Palestinian territory said that Israeli strikes had killed for more than 40 people, almost a dozen children.
The offensive of Israel in Palestinian territory was “extended to crush and clean the area” of the combatants and “seize large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its safety fence and has been widely widened since the start of the war in 2023. Israel says that the buffer area is necessary for its security, while the Palestinians consider it as a seizure of land which still shrinks the narrow coastal territory, which houses around 2 million people.
Katz did not specify which areas of Gaza would be entered during the enlarged operation, which, according to him, includes “in -depth evacuation” of the population of combat zones. His statement came after Israel ordered the complete evacuation of the southern city of Rafah and neighboring regions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ISRAEL aims to maintain an open but not specified security control of the Gaza Strip once he has achieved his goal of crushing Hamas, which has been appointed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The minister called on the residents of Gaza to “expel Hamas and return all the hostages”. The group still holds 59 captives, 24 of which are supposed to be still alive, after most of the others have been released in cease-fire agreements or other agreements.
“It’s the only way to end war,” Katz said.
Since the breakdown of the ceasefire last month, when Israel has ordered people to move and expand their operating areas, the “prohibited” areas in Gaza are now more than 60% of the band, said Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the United Nations Bureau for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Aid groups provide assistance according to the situation, as supplies have decreased due to the blockade of one month of Israel on Gaza. The “No -GO” areas include the military area in the Netzarim corridor – an area carved by Israel separating northern southern Gaza – and the extended buffer area and the evacuation zones.
The hostage families forum, which represents most families of captives, said it was “horrified to wake up this morning at the announcement of the Minister of Defense concerning the expansion of military operations in Gaza”.
The group said that the Israeli government “had an obligation to release the 59 hostages from Hamas captivity – to continue all possible channels to advance an agreement for their release.” They stressed that every passing day puts the lives of their loved ones more at risk.
“Their life is at stake, because more and more worrying details continue to emerge the horrible conditions in which they are held – chained, abused and desperately need medical care,” said the forum, who called the Trump administration and other mediators to continue putting Hamas to release the hosts.
“Our highest priority must be an immediate affair to bring all the hostages home – the living for rehabilitation and those who were killed for an appropriate burial – and put an end to this war,” said the group.
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The Palestinians inspect a United Nations building after being struck by an Israeli strike in Jabaliya, Northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday April 2, 2025. (AP photo / Jehad Alshrafi)
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The Palestinians inspect a United Nations building after being struck by an Israeli strike in Jabaliya, Northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday April 2, 2025. (AP photo / Jehad Alshrafi)
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Children killed on strike on the United Nations Building
Israel continued to target the Gaza strip, air strikes killing during the night killing 17 people in the southern city of Khan Younis. On Wednesday, 15 other people were killed in a strike in the north of the strip, according to hospital officials where the bodies were taken.
Nasser hospital officials said the bodies of 12 people killed in a night air strike that had been brought to the hospital included five women, one of them pregnant and two children. Officials at the European Gaza Hospital said they had received five bodies of people killed in two separate air strikes.
Later Wednesday, officials of the Indonesian hospital said that an Israeli strike on a building of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, in the Jabaliya refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killed 15 people, including nine children and two women.
Palestinian civil defense said the building was a UNRWA clinic, which was now used to house displaced people. He said that the attack hit two rooms in the building and that it evacuated the bodies of seven of the killed as well as 12 people injured.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for UNRWA, said the site did not work like a clinic when it was struck, but that it was used as refuge for displaced people, with around 735 people from 160 families who stayed there.
Despite UNRWA staff warning the dangers of the establishment after the attack on Wednesday, many displaced families did not leave the site, “simply because they have absolutely nowhere to go,” said Touma, adding that no UNRWA staff had been killed or injured in the strike.
The Israeli army said that it had struck Hamas members in the region, adding that they were hiding inside “a command and control center that was used to coordinate” armed activity and served as a central meeting point for the Palestinian group.
In addition, the European hospital said that it had received the bodies of eight people killed in Khan Younis on Wednesday, while three others killed in Zawaida in the center of Gaza arrived at AQSA hospital, officials said.
The war began when terrorists led by Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mainly civilians and taking 251 hostages.
Israel’s offensive killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of strikes killed since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not say if those killed are civilians or fighters. Israel says he killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
Wafaa Shurafa reported Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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