Israel cuts off Gaza's southern city of Rafah, vows to ‘vigorously’ expand in the territory

Israel announced Saturday it had completed construction of a new security corridor cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, and the military said it would soon expand "vigorously" in most of the small coastal territory.

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Palestinians were further squeezed into shrinking areas.

"Activity will expand rapidly to additional locations throughout most of Gaza and you will have to evacuate the fighting zones," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, without saying where Palestinians were meant to go.

The statement urged Palestinians to remove Hamas and release the remaining hostages, saying: "This is the only way to stop the war."