Israel’s Minister of Defense, threatens to “confiscate additional territories” in Gaza

Israel’s Minister of Defense has ordered the military to “take over additional areas in Gaza” if Hamas does not release all the remaining hostages.

Israel Katz said Friday that the military would continue to function in Gaza “with an increasing intensity” until all “living and dead” hostages were returned.

It is another escalation in the conflict, which revived this week when Israel broke the fire, instead since January, to resume its bombing campaign. Hundreds of people have been killed in the resulting violence.

“The more Hamas continues its refusal, the more territory will lose to Israel,” Katz said.

In his statement on Friday, Katz said that Israel still agreed a proposal, which was presented by the American envoy Steve Witkoff, “to free all the kidnapped, both living and dead, in advance and in two stages with a high in the middle.”

“We will intensify the fight with strikes from the air, the sea and the earth and by expanding the land maneuver until they are released to the hostages and Hamas is defeated,” Katz wrote.

The Minister of Defense also said that Israel “would implement the voluntary transfer plan of the president of the United States for Gaza residents.”

Trump said he wants the United States to take care and rebuild the Gaza Strip, while permanently withdrawing its population of two million Palestinians.

The Palestinian authority and Hamas have said that the strip “is not for sale”, while the UN warned that any forced displacement of civilians of occupied territory is strictly prohibited by international law and “equals ethnic cleaning.”

Months of negotiations, led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, saw a high fire agreement proposed in three stages. Israel and Hamas could not agree on how to take the truce beyond the first phase.

El Alto El Fuego broke on Tuesday when Israel launched a strong wave of air attacks In the Gaza Strip, killing more than 430 people in two days, said the Ministry of Health of Hamas. Thursday, Hamas launched three rockets in Tel Aviv.

Kaging Hamas for the resumption of violence, the Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, said the group had “rejected all hostages.”

The plan stagnated when the United States and Israel proposed to extend stage one. Hamas rejected the change and said it was a “shameless attempt” of Israel “to evade the agreement.”

Israel says that Hamas still has 59 hostages, 24 of which it is believed that they are still alive.

Hamas has denied that he is responsible for stopping the negotiations, and said that “remains deeply involved” and is “getting involved with mediators with full responsibility and seriousness.”

In a statement about Telegram, Hamas wrote that “Witkoff’s proposal and other different ideas presented, all with the aim of ensuring a prisoner exchange agreement that guarantees the release of prisoners, ends the war and achieves a withdrawal” (of the Israeli troops of the Gaza Strip) is discussed.

In his statement, Katz also said that civilians would be evacuated from the areas to which they point to the IDF.

The previous evacuation orders have sent panic through Palestinian families, many of which have been repeatedly displaced by the war and have few safe options.

The Israeli army launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross -border attack on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages.

More than 48,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, says the Ministry of Health led by Hamas, and there is a large -scale destruction in homes and infrastructure in the strip.