An Israeli tank crosses the Palestinian enclave, passing by ruined buildings near the border between Israel and Gaza, on March 20, 2025. (Credit: Amir COHEN / Reuters)
The Israeli defense minister threatened on Friday to annex parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release the approximately 60 Israeli hostages held on Palestinian territory where Israel is continuing its offensive for the fourth consecutive day after breaking the truce.
Aerial and ground operations conducted in Gaza have broken the relative calm that had prevailed since the cease-fire came into effect on January 19 in this war-devastated territory, which was triggered over 17 months ago by Hamas.
Gaza's civil defense indicated on Thursday that 504 people have been killed since the resumption of bombings, with Tuesday being one of the deadliest days since Oct. 7, 2023, marking the start of hostilities with an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.
"I have ordered [the army] to seize more territory in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and expand the security zones [along the border inside the strip] of Gaza to protect Israeli localities," said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement on Friday. "The longer Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, the more it will lose territory, which will be annexed to Israel," he added. The "security zones" mentioned by the minister refers to the establishment of a "security strip," considered by security officials in the north of Palestine, to create a buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and neighboring Israeli localities.
Footage filmed on Friday by AFPTV in the north of the Gaza Strip shows carts pulled by donkeys and filled with essentials by residents fleeing their homes along roads lined with ruins.
"Means of pressure"
Israel resumed intensive bombings on Gaza Tuesday, citing the stalemate in indirect negotiations with Hamas over the next steps of the truce, whose first phase expired on March 1. Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed being "troubled" by the resumption of fighting, in a rare criticism targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though not mentioning him by name.
In recent days, thousands of people have protested in Jerusalem against the government, chanting slogans accusing Netanyahu notably of ordering the resumption of bombings on Gaza without concern for the hostages, and purely for political calculations. Of the 251 hostages kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Oct.7, 58 are still held in the Gaza Strip, of which 34 are dead, according to the Israeli army.
On Friday, Katz threatened Hamas with increased pressure. "If the terrorist group Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, I have ordered the Israeli army to take more territory [...] ensuring a permanent occupation of the territory by Israel," he said. "We will intensify the fight with air, sea, and land strikes, as well as by expanding the ground operation until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated, using all military and civilian pressure means, including evacuating the population of Gaza to the south and implementing U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for the voluntary displacement of Gaza residents," he added.