By ISAAC SHARF and WAFAA SHURAFA
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Wednesday that Israel is establishing a brand new safety hall throughout the Gaza Strip to strain Hamas, suggesting it could minimize off the southern metropolis of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the remainder of the Palestinian territory.
The announcement got here after Netanyahu’s protection minister mentioned that Israel would seize massive areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called safety zones. A wave of Israeli strikes, in the meantime, killed greater than 40 Palestinians, together with a number of girls and youngsters, in response to Palestinian well being officers.
Israel has vowed to escalate the practically 18-month warfare with Hamas till the group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the territory. Israel ended a ceasefire in March and has imposed a monthlong halt on all imports of meals, gas and humanitarian support. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by america, Canada and the European Union.
Netanyahu described the brand new axis because the Morag hall, utilizing the title of a Jewish settlement that after stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it could run between the 2 southern cities. He mentioned it could be “a second Philadelphi hall ” referring to the Gaza facet of the border with Egypt additional south, which has been underneath Israeli management since final Could.
Israel has additionally reasserted management over the Netzarim hall, additionally named for a former settlement, that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, together with Gaza Metropolis, from the remainder of the slim coastal strip. Each of the present corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
“We’re slicing up the strip, and we’re growing the strain step-by-step, in order that they’ll give us our hostages,” Netanyahu mentioned.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike hit a U.N. constructing within the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, killing 15 folks, together with 9 youngsters and two girls, in response to the Indonesian Hospital. The Israeli navy mentioned it struck Hamas fighters in a command and management heart.
The constructing, beforehand a clinic, had been transformed right into a shelter for displaced folks, with greater than 700 residing there, in response to Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, the primary support supplier in Gaza. No U.N. employees had been wounded within the strike.
She mentioned U.N. employees warned folks in regards to the risks of remaining there after Wednesday’s strike however that many selected to remain, “just because they’ve completely nowhere else to go.”
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Palestinians examine a UN constructing after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Palestinians examine a UN constructing after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Picture/Jehad Alshrafi)
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U.N. says most of Gaza is a ‘no-go’ zone
Greater than 60% of Gaza is now thought of a “no-go” zone due to Israeli evacuation orders, in response to Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian support workplace. A whole lot of hundreds persons are dwelling in squalid tent camps alongside the coast or within the ruins of their destroyed properties.
Israeli Protection Minister Israel Katz had earlier mentioned Israel would seize “massive areas” and add them to its safety zones, apparently referring to an current buffer zone alongside Gaza’s total perimeter. He referred to as on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all of the hostages,” saying “that is the one option to finish the warfare.”
On Sunday, Netanyahu mentioned Israel plans to take care of total safety management of Gaza after the warfare and implement President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle a lot of its inhabitants elsewhere by what the Israeli chief known as “voluntary emigration.”
Palestinians have rejected the plan, viewing it as expulsion from their homeland after Israel’s offensive left a lot of it uninhabitable, and human rights consultants say implementing the plan would seemingly violate worldwide regulation.
Hamas has mentioned it would solely launch the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in trade for the discharge of extra Palestinian prisoners, an enduring ceasefire and an Israeli pullout. The group has rejected calls for that it lay down its arms or go away the territory.
Concern over hostages
The choice to renew the warfare has fueled protests in Israel, the place many worry it has put the hostages at grave threat and are calling for one more ceasefire and trade with Hamas.
The Hostage Households Discussion board, which represents most captives’ households, mentioned they had been “horrified to get up this morning to the Protection Minister’s announcement about increasing navy operations in Gaza.”
The group referred to as on the Trump administration, which took credit score for brokering the ceasefire however has supported Israel’s choice to finish it, to do every little thing doable to free the remaining captives.
“Our highest precedence have to be a direct deal to convey ALL hostages again dwelling — the dwelling for rehabilitation and people killed for correct burial — and finish this warfare,” the group mentioned.
Strikes kill dozens
Along with the 15 killed in northern Gaza, Israeli airstrikes in a single day into Wednesday killed one other 28 folks throughout the territory, in response to native hospitals. The Nasser Hospital within the southern metropolis of Khan Younis mentioned the lifeless included 5 girls, one among them pregnant, and two youngsters.
Israel says it targets solely fighters and makes each effort to spare civilians, blaming Hamas for his or her deaths as a result of the fighters function in densely populated areas.
The warfare started when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing round 1,200 folks, largely civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been launched in ceasefire agreements and different offers. Israel rescued eight dwelling hostages and has recovered dozens of our bodies.
Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 50,000 Palestinians, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry, which doesn’t say whether or not these killed are civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed round 20,000 fighters, with out offering proof.
The warfare has left huge areas of Gaza in ruins and at its peak displaced round 90% of the inhabitants.
Scharf reported from Jerusalem. Related Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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