Netanyahu says Israeli army ‘dissecting’ Gaza to get back hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the military is dividing Gaza and “seizing territory” to force Hamas to free hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

The military is “dissecting the (Gaza) Strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that Israel “is seizing territory, striking terrorists, and destroying infrastructure.”

He added that the army is “taking control of the ‘Morag Axis’,” a strip of land that is expected to run between the southern governorates of Khan Younis and Rafah.

The name of the axis refers to a former Israeli settlement in the area that was evacuated when Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

He likened the new axis to the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land along Egypt’s border that Israel says it needs to control to prevent weapons smuggling into the Palestinian territory from Egypt.

Netanyahu added that Israel will keep applying military pressure until Hamas frees the remaining hostages.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’ unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack, 58 are still held in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

A group representing about 50 previously freed hostages and relatives of those still in captivity published a statement Wednesday that called “for an immediate return to negotiations to secure a comprehensive hostage release deal.”

Israel resumed major airstrikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down.

Since March 18, at least 1,066 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry on Wednesday.

In total, 50,423 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’ October 2023 attack, according to the ministry’s figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.