The Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, announced on Wednesday that they expand their offensive in the south of the Gaza Strip “to eliminate and purify the terrorist area” and warn that “they will seize large areas that will be annexed to the security areas of the state of Israel.”
“The ‘power and sword’ operation is expanding, with a large -scale evacuation of the Gaza population of the combat areas, crushing and cleaning the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure,” says the statement of the Israeli minister.
The announcement comes after a wave of attacks against the southern points of Jan Yunis and Rafah during this last nightaccording to Palestinian media.
The Sanad news agency, linked to Hamas, speaks of at least thirteen dead by an Israeli air attack launched during this morning against a house in the center of the city of Jan Yunis.
The attacks against the south of the Palestinian enclave have been intensifying since Monday, March 31, when the army ordered new evacuations in the Rafah area before launching new bombings.
According to the mayor of Rafah, about 40,000 people with bicycles, cars and trailers loaded up with their belongings on Monday left this border area with Egypt. Some of the Gazatis reported that, since the beginning of the war, up to ten occasions have suffered forced displacements.
POn the other hand, Katz, in his statement, went back to the Gazati population to which he asked to “act now to expel Hamas and return to all hostages”since it says “it is the only way to end war.”
Last week, after the outbreak of the first spontaneous protests of Gazatis against Hamas, the head of Defense encouraged the population to keep them, again, argued under the thesis that only then will the end of the war come.
“I wish success to the soldiers who fight with courage and strength in Gaza for the return of the kidnapped and the defeat of Hamas,” he added in his note.
