Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had seized a corridor of land, seemingly cutting off one of Gaza largest cities from the rest of the enclave.

The announcement came after Netanyahu’s defense minister said that Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones.

Israel is “carving up” the Gaza Strip in a bid to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages and will establish a new corridor, parallel to the Egyptian border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said with the army escalating ground operations in the south.

Israel’s defense minister says the country's military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas” of the Palestinian territory.

Israel says its war in Gaza is "expanding to crush and clean the area" of Hamas, but Palestinian civilians are once again being killed and displaced in huge numbers.

Israel's renewed military operation in Gaza "is expanding to crush and cleanse the area of ​​terrorists," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday.