JERUSALEM — Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel will soon
expand its operations to most of the C Strip territory.
He told Gaza residents in a message that they have to
evacuate due to the expected operations, Xinhua news agency reported.
"For those who are interested, voluntary crossing to
several countries will also be possible" under Washington's plan, which
Israel is "working to implement," Katz said, referring to US
President Donald Trump's controversial relocation proposal for Gaza residents.
"This is the last moment to remove Hamas, release all
the Israeli hostages, and bring an end to the war," Katz remarked.
Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
announced in a statement that it had fully encircled southern Gaza's Rafah city
by completing the establishment of the "Morag Corridor," a route in
the south of the strip intended to separate Rafah and Khan Younis.
The IDF noted that it will extend operational control over
the corridor and carry out "counter-terrorism" operations in the
area. The Israeli military, through the seizure of the key route, turned the
area between the "Morag Corridor" and the "Philadelphi
Corridor" near the border with Egypt into part of its security zone.
Later on Saturday, the IDF said its Air Force intercepted
three rockets fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.
The rocket launches triggered sirens in open spaces bordering
Gaza, with no casualties reported, it added.
Following the rocket launches, IDF Arabic-language
spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement that Israel "will attack
with great force any area from which rockets are fired," and ordered
residents of the Khan Younis area to move westward to the
"designated" humanitarian zones in the Al-Mawasi area.
Residents are also being evacuated in northern Gaza, and
territory is being taken there, along with the expansion of the military buffer
zone on the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, Adraee added.
Also on Saturday, the Hamas-run Gaza media office said
Israel has used water as "a weapon of war" to commit "a crime of
slow mass killing" against Gaza residents.
It accused Israel of destroying over 90 per cent of the
water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, preventing technical crews from
reaching the strip to repair damaged facilities, targeting workers who were
carrying out their humanitarian missions, and blocking the supply of
electricity and fuel needed to operate wells and desalination plants, among
others.
Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into
Gaza since March 2. It then ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18
and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the enclave.
On Friday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East issued an urgent warning over rapidly
depleting essential supplies in Gaza.
The renewed Israeli attacks have so far killed 1,563
Palestinians and injured 4,004 others, Gaza health authorities said Saturday,
adding the death toll in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 has
risen to 50,933, with 116,045 injured.
