Israeli troops expand 'security zone' in northern Gaza, take control of more territory

Israeli troops moved into an area of northern Gaza, taking control of more territory around the edge of the enclave, the military said on Friday, days after the government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the south.

Soldiers carrying out the operation in Shuja'iyya, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, were letting civilians out via organized routes, as troops moved in to expand the area defined by Israel as a "security zone" in Gaza, a statement said.

Images circulating on social media showed an Israeli tank on Al Muntar hill in Shuja'iyya in a position that gave it clear sight over Gaza City and beyond to the shoreline. Shelling on the eastern side of Gaza was non-stop, a local health official said in a text message.

As the Israeli forces moved in, hundreds of residents had already left a day earlier, carrying belongings or loading them on to vans or donkey carts, after the military issued the latest in a series of evacuation warnings that now cover around a third of the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations.

Israel resumed its operation in Gaza with a heavy series of air strikes on March 18 and sent troops back in after a two-month pause, during which 38 hostages were returned in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Efforts at restarting negotiations, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, have stalled. "There are currently no contacts," a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters.

Over the past two weeks, more than 280,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Agency OCHA, adding to the misery of families that have already been displaced multiple times over the past 18 months.

"I swear to God that I am staying in the street, there is no shelter here," said 40-year-old Hemam Al-Rifi, who said members of his family were killed when the Gaza City school complex they were sheltering in was hit by a deadly strike on Thursday.

"My house was destroyed at first, and I stayed in a tent in a school, not a classroom, and now I don't know where to go."

In Gaza City, local people said Israeli strikes had hit a water desalination plant located east of the Tuffah neighbourhood, that was vital to providing clean drinking water. Aid supplies have been cut off for weeks.

65% of Gaza under 'no-go' areas, active displacement orders

On the southern edge of Gaza, Israeli troops have been consolidating around the ruins of the city of Rafah, and OCHA says 65 per cent of the enclave is now within "no-go" areas, under active displacement orders or both.

Israel has not fully explained its long-term aim for the areas it is now seizing as a security zone, extending an existing buffer area along the edge of the enclave hundreds of metres into the Gaza Strip.

Gaza residents say they believe the aim is to permanently depopulate swaths of land, including some of Gaza's last farmland and water infrastructure.

Officials say the operations are in line with plans of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said in February he wanted to move the Gaza population into neighbouring countries and turn the enclave into a waterfront resort under U.S. control.

Israel says it would encourage Palestinians who wish to leave voluntarily.

On Friday, Gaza health authorities said at least 35 Palestinians were killed, most in southern areas of Gaza. Among the dead were 19 members of one family killed when a strike demolished the three-storey building where they were staying.

The Israeli military said its forces killed Mohammed Awad, a senior commander in the militant group Palestinian Mujahideen, who it said was involved in the abduction of hostages including the Bibas family during the attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, and was most likely involved in their killing.

Israel accuses Hamas of hiding fighters in civilian buildings and says it takes precaution to limit casualties, but hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since the operation resumed, according to local health authorities. More than 250 of the dead were armed militants, the Israeli military says, though it has not provided evidence.

Israel resumes strikes on Lebanon, Syria

Ministers have said the operation will continue until 59 hostages still held in Gaza are returned. Hamas says it will free them only under a deal that brings a permanent end to the war. 

On Friday, a spokesperson for the group's armed wing said half of the hostages were being held in areas where people had been told to evacuate.

"If the enemy is concerned about the lives of these hostages, it must immediately negotiate their evacuation or release," Hamas spokesperson Abo Ubaida said in a message on Telegram.

As a ceasefire agreement that halted fighting in January has collapsed, the risk of a wider return to war has increased, with Israel striking targets in both Lebanon and Syria over recent days. On Friday, it said an airstrike in the Lebanese city of Sidon killed a senior Hamas operative.

Israeli troops have also been engaged in an extended operation in the occupied West Bank, where two Palestinians were killed on Friday.

The war began with the Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, whcih killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel has reduced much of Gaza to ruins and killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health authorities.