Palestinians make their way with belongings as they flee areas in the eastern part of Gaza City, after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Gaza City, April 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Israeli forces have completed the encirclement of Gaza’s Rafah, the military said on Saturday (April 12, 2025), part of an announced plan to seize more areas of the enclave, accompanied by large-scale evacuations of the population.
The military has issued repeated evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across Rafah since it resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, forcing them into a diminishing space limited by the sea.
Israel said on April 2 that troops had begun seizing an area it called the Morag Axis, a reference to a former Israeli settlement once located between the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since fled Rafah, a 60 square km area that borders Egypt to the south.
“Over the past 24 hours, the 36th Division’s troops completed the establishment of the Morag route, separating Rafah and Khan Younis,” the military said on Saturday.
Israel to expand its ongoing offensive
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Saturday (April 12, 2025) that the military plans to expand its ongoing offensive across much of the Gaza Strip, warning residents to evacuate from active combat zones.
“Soon, IDF operations will intensify and expand to other areas throughout most of Gaza, and you will need to evacuate the combat zones,” Katz said in a statement addressed to residents of Gaza, as he also announced that troops had completed the takeover of a corridor in the southern part of the territory.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza was launched after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the offensive, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
Israel restarted the offensive in March after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January. The campaign will continue, it says, until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Hamas is stamped out of Gaza.
Hamas says it will free hostages only as part of a deal that will end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms. A Hamas delegation was expected in Cairo over the weekend to discuss new truce proposals, according to a source in the group.
Published – April 12, 2025 05:21 pm IST