Israel’s military will take over more parts of Gaza, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday, as the country steps up its campaign against Hamas.
“Operation ‘Might and Sword’ in Gaza is expanding,” Katz said in a statement. He called for a large evacuation of Gaza’s population and urged residents to turn against Hamas to help secure the return of hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israeli forces were “seizing territory, striking terrorists, destroying infrastructure.”
“We are now dividing the strip and increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages. And as long as they do not give them to us, the pressure will increase until they do,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also announced Israel would take control of the “Morag Axis,” a new corridor similar to the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egyptian border, to tighten control over Gaza and isolate it further.
The Morag Corridor refers to the former settlement of Morag, located between the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza. The Philadelphi Corridor is a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) strip of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
Netanyahu says Israeli forces will create a new Israeli controlled corridor between Rafah and Khan Younis – the “Morag Axis” named after a former settlement.
This represents another step towards fully fragmenting Gaza into “five fingers” as shown on our @ecfr map. pic.twitter.com/P6Ir7zPGJg— Hugh Lovatt (@h_lovatt) April 2, 2025
Earlier this month, Israel launched a “limited ground operation” and retook control of the Netzarim Corridor, a newly widened road protected by fortified bunkers that divides Gaza and is seen as crucial to controlling the devastated Palestinian territory.
The escalation follows a massive wave of airstrikes that killed more than 400 people, including 183 children and 94 women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said over 1,160 people have been killed since Israel resumed attacks in Gaza on March 18. At least 100 people died in the last 24 hours.
Earlier this week, a mass grave was discovered in Rafah containing the bodies of 15 emergency responders who had gone missing on March 23. The responders were part of a convoy dispatched to assist civilians affected by the ongoing conflict.
⚡️ Mass Grave of First Responders Found in Rafah
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) and Civil Defense teams recovered 15 bodies—including medics, rescue workers, and a UN staff member—from a mass grave in Rafah, Gaza, marked only by the emergency light of a crushed ambulance.… pic.twitter.com/nIUkIOf6i0
— War Intel (@warintel4u) March 31, 2025
