Israel cuts off Gaza's southern city of Rafah and vows to 'vigorously' expand in the territory

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel announced Saturday it had completed construction of a new security corridor cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, and the military said it would soon expand ''vigorously'' in most of the small coastal territory.

Palestinians were further squeezed into shrinking areas.

''Activity will expand rapidly to additional locations throughout most of Gaza and you will have to evacuate the fighting zones,'' Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, without saying where Palestinians were meant to go.

The statement urged Palestinians to remove Hamas and release the remaining hostages, saying: ''This is the only way to stop the war."

Israeli troops were deployed last week to the new security corridor referred to as Morag, the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, after the army ordered sweeping evacuations covering most of Rafah — an indication it could soon launch another major ground operation.

The Rafah municipality in a statement called Israel's actions a ''flagrant breach of international legitimacy.''

Israel has vowed to seize large parts of Gaza to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has also imposed a monthlong blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left the territory's roughly 2 million Palestinians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime.

Israel has claimed that enough supplies entered Gaza during the two-month ceasefire that it shattered last month. Aid groups have disputed that.

Netanyahu has said Morag would be ''a second Philadelphi corridor,'' referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt farther south, which has been under Israeli control since May 2024. Israel has also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which cuts off Gaza's northern third from the rest of the territory.

The corridors, coupled with a buffer zone that Israel has razed and expanded, give it more than 50% control of the territory.

Katz said Palestinians interested in ''voluntarily'' relocating to other countries would be able to as part of a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump. Palestinians have rejected the proposal and expressed their determination to remain in their homeland.

Trump and Israeli officials have not said how they would respond if Palestinians refuse to leave Gaza. But Human Rights Watch and other groups say the plan would amount to ''ethnic cleansing'' — the forcible relocation of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographic area.

Many Palestinians have been crowding into squalid tent camps or the rubble of their previous homes, often displacing multiple times in response to Israel's evacuation orders since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people, many of them civilians, and sparked the war.

Israel on Saturday ordered the evacuation of areas east of Khan Younis ahead of an attack. Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee added that militants had fired rockets into Israel from these areas. In the evening, several neighborhoods in Nuseirat in central Gaza were told to evacuate after Israel said it had intercepted a projectile from the territory.

Hamas has said the bombardment poses risks to the hostages as well. On Saturday, the family of the last living American held in Gaza responded to the release of a new video showing Edan Alexander speaking under duress.

''When you sit down to mark Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other 58 hostages are not home,'' the family said in a statement.

Families and supporters again rallied in Tel Aviv for a deal to bring everyone home.

Israeli strikes across Gaza continued, killing at least 21 people in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants but says most of the over 50,000 Palestinians killed in the war have been women and children.

The ministry said at least 1,500 people have been killed since Israel's surprise bombardment resumed the war last month.

Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants in the war, without providing evidence.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.