Israel seizing ‘large areas’ of Gaza as strike kills 23

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israel said Wednesday its troops were seizing “large areas” in Gaza and making the Palestinian territory “smaller and more isolated,” as an air strike on a residential block killed at least 23 people.

Defense Minister Israel Katz’s comments come weeks into a renewed offensive by the military on the war-battered territory, which has displaced hundreds of thousands, while an aid blockade has revived the specter of famine for its 2.4 million people.

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile said that France plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the “coming months,” a move that risks antagonizing Israel which insists such moves by foreign states are premature.

Katz said that “large areas are being seized and added to Israel’s security zones, leaving Gaza smaller and more isolated,” during a visit to the newly announced Morag Corridor between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Katz emphasized that Israel would keep increasing pressure on Gaza “until the hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated.”

Katz also said that Israel was encouraging plans for “voluntary emigration... in accordance with the vision of the US president, which we are working to implement.”

US President Donald Trump had earlier this year proposed a plan to develop Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” while displacing its population elsewhere.

Gaza’s civil defense agency meanwhile said an Israeli air strike on a residential building in Gaza City killed at least 23 people, most of them children or women, while the military said it targeted a “senior Hamas” militant.

The strike took place in the Shujaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, the agency’s spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse.

“There are still people trapped under the rubble,” he said.