The Israeli military will expand its operation in Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, IPN reports.

The expanded operation aims to "destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure" and will require a large-scale evacuation of Palestinians, Katz said, quoted by BBC.

It comes as local hospitals said at least 15 Palestinians were killed in the territory overnight.

The Hamas-run civil defense agency said first responders had recovered the bodies of 12 people, including children, from a home in the Khan Younis area.

ccording to BBC journalists, there have been reports of extensive Israeli air strikes and shelling along the Egypt border and there is a growing sense that a new major Israeli ground offensive is looming in Gaza.

This week, Israel's military ordered an estimated 140,000 people in Rafah to leave their homes and issued new evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza.


Israel has already significantly expanded a buffer zone around the edge of Gaza over the course of the war, and seized control of a corridor of land cutting through its center.

Israel launched its renewed Gaza offensive on 18 March, blaming Hamas for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the ceasefire and free the 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza.

Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of violating the original deal they had agreed to in January.

According to health authorities in Gaza, more than 50,000 people have died since the beginning of the fighting between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.

Photo source: The Israel Defense Forces