Israel to expand Gaza military operation with large-scale evacuations as latest strikes kill 53

Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones, accompanied by large-scale evacuation of the population.

In a statement, Defence Minister Israel Katz said evacuations would take place from areas where there was fighting, while urging Gazans to eliminate Hamas and return Israeli hostages as the only way to end the war.

He said the operation would clear out militants and infrastructure "and seize large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel."

Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters Israeli hostages would only be released through negotiations, not via military pressure.

The Israeli military had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and toward the city of Khan Younis, telling them to move to the Al-Mawasi area on the shore, previously designated a humanitarian zone.

Gaza's Health Ministry said 53 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, with 19 people including children killed in a strike at a UN clinic being used to house displaced people.

Israel's military said it had struck a building previously used as a clinic that it said was serving as a Hamas command and control centre to plan attacks and that the military had used surveillance to mitigate the risk to civilians. Hamas denied using the building and called the Israeli accusation a "blatant fabrication."

Reuters video of the aftermath of the strike showed blood on a floor as rescue workers removed bodies on stretchers.

At the site of a strike in Khan Younis, Rida al-Jabbour held up a tiny shoe and pointed at a blood-spattered wall as she related how a neighbour had been killed along with her three-month-old baby.

"From the moment the strike occurred we have not been able to sit or sleep or anything," she said, describing how rescue workers were unable to separate the remains of those killed.

Katz's statement did not make clear how much land Israel intended to seize or whether the move represented a permanent annexation of territory, which would add further pressure on a population already living in one of the most crowded areas in the world.

According to the Israeli rights group Gisha, Israel has already taken control of some 62 square kilometres or around 17 per cent of the total area of Gaza, as part of a buffer zone around the edges of the enclave.

At the same time, Israeli leaders have said they plan to facilitate voluntary departure of Palestinians from the enclave, after U.S. President Donald Trump called for it to be permanently evacuated and redeveloped as a coastal resort under U.S. control.

Katz's remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated calls for Hamas to disarm and said the application of military pressure was the best way to get back the remaining 59 hostages.