Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday a military expansion further into Gaza to capture “extensive territory” and turn it into Israeli-controlled buffer zones.
The goal of the operation “is first and foremost to increase pressure for the release of all the hostages in the face of Hamas’ refusal,” Katz wrote in a post on X. He added: “Expanding the operation this morning will increase the pressure on the Hamas murderers and also on the population in Gaza and advance the achievement of the sacred and important goal.”
According to the Times of Israel, Katz said the military will move to clear areas “of terrorists and infrastructure, and capture extensive territory that will be added [to] the State of Israel’s security areas.”
The total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has now passed 50,000 after Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18 with a wave of fresh strikes that has killed hundreds, according to officials in the coastal enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Hamas triggered the large-scale war with a violent attack on Israel in October 2023, during which its militants took hundreds of hostages.
Netanyahu is expected to land in Budapest on Wednesday night, despite an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). RFE/RL’s Hungarian service reported Tuesday night that Hungary’s Justice Minister Bence Tuzson told diplomats that Budapest, which vowed not to enforce the warrant, is withdrawing from the ICC.
