Israel to seize more areas in Gaza, expand military ops

Move accompanied by large-scale evacuations of enclave's population

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JERUSALEM - Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on April 2, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones, accompanied by large-scale evacuations of the population.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said evacuations would be in areas where there was fighting. He urged Gazans to eliminate Hamas and said the return of Israeli hostages was 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".

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that Israeli hostages would be released only through negotiations.

The Israeli military had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards 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 April 2, 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 called the Israeli accusation a "blatant fabrication".