The Israeli army is working on fragmenting the Gaza Strip and implementing a plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from the enclave, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday evening.
Katz inspected Israeli forces at the Morag Corridor, which separates the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
"The army is achieving significant goals: evacuating the (Palestinian) population, destroying infrastructure, segmenting Gaza in new areas in which it had not operated at any prior point in the war, eliminating tunnels, and soon establishing a new corridor... which will cut off the connection between Khan Younis and Rafah," he said.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported early Wednesday that the army is planning to incorporate Rafah city into a buffer zone being built along the border.
According to the outlet, the army is creating a buffer zone in Gaza that covers 75 square kilometers (29 square miles), or around one-fifth of the Palestinian territory.
"It would effectively turn Gaza into an enclave within Israeli-controlled territory, cutting it off from the Egyptian border."
The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18 and has since killed nearly 1,500 victims, injured 3,700 others, and shattered a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in the enclave that was signed in January.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to escalate attacks on Gaza as efforts are underway to implement US President Donald Trump's plan to displace Palestinians from the enclave.
More than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
