Israel's War Expands
The hope that many had that the recent ceasefire would continue, allowing humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, has been crushed as Israeli Defense Forces have purposely broadened the war. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has lately been talking about implementing US President Trump’s idea of removing all Palestinians from Gaza.
Is this a tactical move meant to heighten the pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages? Or is Israel planning to hold onto vast swathes of Gaza … indefinitely?
The ‘Morag axis’: What we know about Israel’s latest plan to divide Gaza. Netanyahu reveals new plan to divide Gaza as part of strategy to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the besieged enclave by Middle East Eye, April 3, 2025
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was seizing more territory in Gaza to “divide up” the besieged enclave. He spoke as Israeli forces increased the intensity of their assault on Hamas in Gaza, which resumed two weeks ago after phase one of the ceasefire agreed to in January ended.
The context: Hamas still holds 59 hostages captured during the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. The two sides are deadlocked on reaching a further deal: Netanyahu wants full Hamas disarmament, Israeli security control of Gaza, and the “voluntary” migration of Gazans. Hamas rejects that and says it will release the remaining hostages – 24 are believed to still be alive – only if Israel withdraws fully.
What territory is Israel taking? Netanyahu pointed specifically to a new “Morag Corridor,” which would bisect southern Gaza, cutting off the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis from each other. Since October 2023, the IDF has already occupied nearly 20% of Gazan territory, forming “buffer zones” around the edges of the enclave.
The big question:
Is this a tactical move meant to heighten the pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages? Or is Israel planning to hold onto vast swathes of Gaza … indefinitely?
Israel seizes more Gaza territory – for how long? By Alex Kliment, GZERO Media, April 2, 2025
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is “seizing territory” and intends to “divide up” the Gaza Strip by building a new security corridor, amid a major expansion of aerial and ground operations in the besieged Palestinian territory.
“Tonight, we have shifted gears in the Gaza Strip. The [Israeli army] is seizing territory, hitting the terrorists and destroying the infrastructure,” the prime minister said in a video statement on Wednesday evening.
“We are also doing another thing – seizing the ‘Morag route’. This will be the second Philadelphi route, another Philadelphi route,” he said, referring to an Israeli-held corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border.
“Because we are currently dividing up the strip, we are adding pressure step by step, so that our hostages will be given to us,” Netanyahu added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have seized buffer zones around Gaza’s edges totaling 62 sq km, or 17% of the strip, since the war began in October 2023, according to the Israeli human rights group Gisha.
The Netzarim corridor, named for a defunct Israeli settlement, now cuts off Gaza City from the south of the strip.
Morag was a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, so the use of the name suggests the new corridor is designed to separate the two southern cities.
The Israeli prime minister’s announcement follows remarks on Wednesday from his defence minister, Israel Katz, who said the Israeli army would “seize large areas” of Gaza, necessitating large-scale civilian evacuations.
Neither Netanyahu nor Katz elaborated on how much Palestinian land Israel intended to capture in the renewed offensive, but the move is likely to complicate ceasefire talks and inflame fears that Israel intends to take permanent control of the strip when the war ends.
Israel is ‘seizing territory’ and will ‘divide up’ Gaza: war on Gaza Day 544 by If Americans Knew, April 3, 2025
She (Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry) added in the House of Commons: “What is plan B when annexation of either of the West Bank or of Gaza isn’t just threatened but actually happens, which is happening now?
“So my question is this: what is this Government actually doing to turn our allies’ heads from American trade wars to the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East and do whatever they can to restore a ceasefire and the road to peace?”
‘No plan B in Israel-Palestine’ beyond two-state solution, says UK minister. The Foreign Office’s Hamish Falconer also said the UK did not support Israel’s expansion of military operations in Gaza. By Richard Wheeler Will Durrant and Claudia Savage, The Irish News, April 2, 2025
