Israel expands Gaza ground operations in bid to squeeze Hamas
Summary
Troops push into northern towns, expand a buffer zone and issue evacuation orders in the south
Israel’s military is expanding its ground operations across the Gaza Strip, with troops operating in key locations across the enclave in an effort to pressure Hamas as talks to stop the fighting and release more hostages have stalled.
Israeli troops pressed into the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanoun on Saturday to lay the groundwork for expanding Israel’s security buffer, a several-hundred-meter-wide zone the military has carved out within Gaza that spans its border with Israel.
The military said it is now operating in patches to expand its footprint and uproot Hamas infrastructure across Gaza, from Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the north to the Netzarim corridor bisecting the enclave’s middle and Rafah across the Egyptian border in the south. Fresh evacuation orders were issued Sunday for Palestinians to flee expanding operations in Rafah.
Israel is also targeting prominent members of Hamas. Airstrikes across Gaza overnight on Sunday killed Salah al-Bardawil, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization said.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 600 Palestinians since fighting resumed with an intense air campaign on March 18, according to Palestinian health authorities, whose figures don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians since it began more than 17 months ago. It was sparked by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 invasion of southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. A two-month reprieve in the fighting ended this month after Israel and Hamas were unable to come to terms to extend their January cease-fire.
Israel’s current moves are part of the government’s strategy to press Hamas to accept a deal to free the nearly 60 remaining hostages in the strip, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Israel’s government is under intense public pressure to secure their release, and tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in the days since fighting resumed to urge their leaders to seek a deal.
Many in Israel’s right wing have also called for the country to hold Palestinian territory and support Palestinians who want to leave the Gaza Strip, arguing that such pressure tactics are necessary to squeeze Hamas. Arab countries have pushed back on a plan by President Trump to displace Gazans to neighboring countries while the enclave is rebuilt.
Israel’s security cabinet approved the creation of a new administration to facilitate voluntary emigration from Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday, after saying over the weekend that he had directed the Israeli military to capture additional territory in Gaza and expand its buffer zone.
“As long as Hamas continues in its refusal to release hostages it will lose more and more territory that will be attached to Israel," Katz said on Friday.
