• Nine children among 34 killed in Israeli strikes
• Palestinian authorities condemn ‘massacre’ at UN-run clinic, call for ‘serious international pressure’ to halt widening offensive
• Hunger looms as bakeries closed due to worsening shortages of flour and sugar

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the military was “dissecting” the Gaza Strip and seizing territory to pressure Hamas into freeing prisoners still held in the territory.

It came as rescuers said 34 people were killed in continued Israeli strikes on the territory, including on a UN building.

The military is “dissecting the (Gaza) Strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages”, Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that Israel is seizing territory, striking fighters and destroying infrastructure.

He added that the army is “taking control of the ‘Morag Axis’”, a strip of land that is expected to run between the southern governorates of Khan Yunis and Rafah.

The name of the axis refers to a former Israeli settlement that was evacuated when Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier said Israel would bolster its military presence in the Palestinian territory to destroy and clear the area of fighters and their infrastructure.

The operation would “seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones”, he said in a statement, without specifying how much territory.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike that targeted a UN building “housing a medical clinic in Jabalia refugee camp” killed at least 19 people, including nine children.

The Israeli army said it struck Hamas fighters “inside a command and control centre” in north Gaza’s Jabalia. It separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.

The Palestinian foreign ministry, based in the occupied West Bank, condemned the “massacre” at the clinic run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, and called for “serious international pressure” to halt Israel’s widening offensive.

Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.

Israel also carried out deadly air strikes in southern and central Gaza on Wednesday. The civil defence said dawn strikes killed at least 13 people in Khan Yunis and two in Nuseirat refugee camp.

‘Horrified’

In February, Katz announced plans for an agency to oversee the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the territory.

That followed Israel’s backing of a proposal from US President Donald Trump for the United States to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants. The proposal outraged Gazans and drew widespread international condemnation.

Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.

An Israeli group representing the families of prisoners still held in Gaza said they were “horrified” by Katz’s announcement of expanded military operations.

“Has it been decided to sacrifice the hostages for the sake of ‘territorial gains?’” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked in a statement.

At least 1,066 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed military operations, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said.

That took the overall toll to at least 50,423 since the war began in October 2023.

‘They’re all closed’

Hunger loomed in Gaza City as bakeries closed due to worsening shortages of flour and sugar since Israel blocked the entry of supplies from March 2.

“I’ve been going from bakery to bakery all morning, but none of them are operating, they’re all closed,” Amina al-Sayed told AFP.

On Sunday, Netanyahu offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms.

Hamas has signalled willingness to cede power in Gaza but calls disarmament a “red line”.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to broker a new ceasefire and secure the release of the remaining Israeli prisoners.

A senior Hamas official said on Saturday the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal, while Netanyahu’s office said Israel had submitted a counteroffer. The details remain undisclosed.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2025