Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was creating a new security corridor through the Gaza Strip to put pressure on Hamas, suggesting it would separate the southern city of Rafah, which Israel has ordered evacuated, from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
The statement followed comments by Defense Minister Netanyahu, who said Israel would seize large swaths of Gaza territory and add them to its so-called security zones.
Meanwhile, more than 40 Palestinians, including several women and children, have been killed in a series of Israeli strikes, according to Palestinian medical officials.
Israel has vowed to escalate its nearly 18-month war with Hamas until the militant group returns dozens of remaining hostages, disarms and leaves the area.
In March, Israel ended the ceasefire and imposed a month-long ban on imports of food, fuel and humanitarian aid.
Netanyahu described the new corridor as the Morag corridor, referring to the name of the Jewish settlement that was previously located between Rafah and Khan Yunis, implying that it would run between the two southern cities.
He said it would be a “second Philadelphia corridor,” referring to the section of Gaza along the border with Egypt further south that has been controlled by Israel since May last year.
Israel also regained control of the Netzarim corridor, also named after the former settlement, which separates the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the narrow coastal strip.
Both existing corridors run from the border with Israel to the Mediterranean Sea.
“We are cutting the strip and gradually increasing the pressure so that they return our hostages to us,” Netanyahu said.
An Israeli airstrike hit a UN building in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing 15 people, including nine children and two women, an Indonesian hospital said.
Israeli military claims to have attacked Hamas militants' command center.
Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the UN Refugee Agency, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the building, previously used as a clinic, had been converted into a shelter for displaced people, housing more than 700 people.
No UN personnel were injured in the strike.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
