Israel Minister Threatens To Annex Components Of Gaza Until Hamas Frees Hostages
Jerusalem:
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Friday to annex elements of the Gaza Strip until Hamas militants launch the remaining Israeli hostages held within the war-battered Palestinian territory.
The warning got here as Israel stepped up the renewed assault it launched on Tuesday, shattering the relative calm that had reigned within the war-battered territory since a January 19 ceasefire.
Gaza’s civil defence company stated Israeli strikes killed 11 folks on Friday — three in pre-dawn strikes and eight extra throughout the daytime.
On Thursday, it reported a dying depend of 504 because the bombardment resumed, one of many highest because the conflict started greater than 17 months in the past with Hamas’s assault on Israel.
“I ordered (the military) to grab extra territory in Gaza… The extra Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the extra territory it’s going to lose, which will probably be annexed by Israel,” Katz stated in a press release.
Ought to Hamas not comply, Katz additionally threatened “to increase buffer zones round Gaza to guard Israeli civilian inhabitants areas and troopers by implementing a everlasting Israeli occupation of the world”.
The navy urged residents of the Al-Salatin, Al-Karama and Al-Awda areas of southern Gaza to evacuate their properties on Friday forward of a threatened strike.
“On your security, head south towards the recognized shelters instantly,” Israeli navy spokesman Avichay Adraee stated in a put up on X.
AFP photographs from northern Gaza confirmed donkey carts piled excessive with belongings as residents fled their properties alongside rubble-strewn roads.
– ‘Strain factors’ –
Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing impasse in oblique negotiations on subsequent steps within the truce after its first stage expired early this month.
Its resumption of large-scale navy operations was coordinated with US President Donald Trump’s administration however drew widespread condemnation.
Turkey condemned what it stated was a “deliberate” assault by Israel on a Turkish-built hospital in Gaza. “We strongly condemn the destruction by Israel of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital,” its international ministry stated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “concern” over the recent Israeli assault in a phone name Friday with the ruler of Qatar, one of many mediators of the January ceasefire.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed concern in regards to the authorities’s actions in a video assertion on Thursday, saying it was “unthinkable to renew combating whereas nonetheless pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages house”.
Hundreds of protesters have rallied in Jerusalem in current days, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming navy operations with out regard for the protection of the hostages.
Of the 251 hostages seized throughout Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault, 58 are nonetheless held by Gaza militants, together with 34 the Israeli navy says are useless.
The Israeli navy stated on Thursday that it had closed off the territory’s foremost north-south route because it expanded the bottom operations which resumed on Wednesday.
– Projectiles from Gaza –
Israel’s navy stated it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza on Friday after air raid sirens sounded within the southern metropolis of Ashkelon.
On Thursday, sirens went off in central Israel as Hamas stated it fired rockets at Tel Aviv in its first navy response to Israel’s resumed offensive. The navy stated it intercepted one rocket, whereas two hit an uninhabited space.
“We are going to intensify the combat with aerial, naval and floor shelling in addition to by increasing the bottom operation till hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated, utilizing all navy and civilian stress factors,” Katz stated.
He stated these included implementing Trump’s proposal for america to redevelop Gaza as a Mediterranean resort after the relocation of its Palestinian inhabitants to different Arab nations.
When requested if Trump was making an attempt to get a Gaza ceasefire again on observe Thursday, White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt instructed reporters that the president “absolutely helps” Israel’s renewed Gaza operations.
Israel rejected negotiations for a promised second stage of the truce, calling as a substitute for the return of all of its remaining hostages underneath an prolonged first stage.
That will have meant delaying talks on a long-lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an try to renegotiate the unique deal.
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