Israel expands Gaza military operation to seize ‘large areas’

Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, 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 take place from areas where there was fighting, while urging Gazans to eliminate Hamas and return Israeli hostages as the only way to end the war.

He said the operation would clear out militants and infrastructure and seize large areas that would be added to the security zones of Israel.

The Israeli military had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living in some southern districts and Palestinian radio reported that the area around Rafah was almost completely empty following the evacuation orders.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 53 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, 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.

Netanyahu heads to Hungary, defies ICC arrest warrant

Jerusalem: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant over “war crimes” in Gaza.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian PM Viktor Orban made it clear that Hungary would not respect the ruling. Netanyahu said Israel was establishing a new security corridor across Gaza