TEL AVIV, March 21, 2025 (WAFA) – Israeli ‘Defense’ Minister Israel Katz said on Friday that the army will permanently seize and annex territory in Gaza if captives are not released.

“The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” he stressed.

“I have directed the IDF [military] to expand the manoeuvre, take control of more ground and hold it permanently to protect Israeli communities and soldiers.”

Annexation of occupied territory is illegal under international law.

Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children.

It has started a ground invasion of areas in the Strip, moving into Beit Lahiya in the north as well as the so-called Netzarim Corridor that bisects the Palestinian enclave.

The death toll has reached over 590, including more than 200 children, since Tuesday with over 900 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble.

The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.

Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since October 2023, killing over 49,617 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring over 112,950 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

K.F.