Palestinian children play volleyball on a makeshift court made of rubble in Gaza City on Sept. 15, 2026. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
Israel's defense minister threatened Tuesday to force out all of Gaza City's residents and displace a million people in the war-ravaged territory if any Israeli is abducted in the future.
Speaking at a memorial for the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Defense Minister Israel Katz also threatened the destruction of infrastructure, which, like the forced displacement of civilians, constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
"I hereby warn the terrorist organization and its supporters, from Iran to Erdogan: if a single Israeli soldier or civilian is kidnapped, the entire city of Gaza, with its houses and terror towers, will be evacuated southward with its million residents," Katz said, referring to Hamas and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Israel's Gaza campaign.
"This is the language that the jihadist terrorist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon understand, and this is the language we speak. Evacuation of the population, destruction of infrastructure and taking over the territory," he said, also referring to Hezbollah.
Gaza City is home to around 1.1 million people, according to the municipality. The entire Gaza Strip has some two million residents, who after nearly three years of Israeli war have been forced into the 30% of the territory not controlled by Israel.
Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, led the deadliest attack ever against Israel in which it killed 1,221 people and dragged around 251 hostages, 44 of them already dead, into Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Israel's war on Gaza the following day has displaced virtually the entire population several times and has killed 73,919 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Katz, known for his outspoken remarks, recently said that Israel agreed to an October 2025 U.S.-brokered cease-fire declaration only to free the remaining hostages and that he expected Israel, which has kept up attacks on Gaza at a lower pace, to return to full-scale war in Gaza.
In his latest remarks, Katz again threatened to return to war with Iran. "The work is not yet finished, and if we need to, we will strike a third time until the terrorist regime is overthrown and eliminated," Katz said.
The United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran in late February, with an initial Israeli strike killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel reluctantly halted its campaign in April after U.S. President Donald Trump entered a cease-fire and sought a negotiated settlement to the war, which has sharply raised oil prices and been highly unpopular among U.S. voters.
