Israel is "carving up” the Gaza Strip in a bid to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages and will establish a new corridor, parallel to the Egyptian border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said with the army escalating ground operations in the south.
As mediators try to cobble together another ceasefire and hostage-release deal, Israel has been carrying out airstrikes and incursions with a new threat to seize and annex land. The resumed offensive has spelled fresh, en masse displacements for Palestinian civilians.
In a statement Wednesday, Netanyahu described overnight Israel Defense Forces advances around Rafah, a city on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, as a "shifting of gears” in the almost 18-month war against the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction.
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