The World Stands Still as Israel Expands Its Territory and Kills Palestinians

GAZA, WEDNESDAY - The world remains unmoved as the Israeli government announces a new military operation to expand its security buffer zone, further restricting the movement of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The new military operation, carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 1-2, 2025), claimed to target the Hamas Group, continues to claim victims. The majority are innocent children.

The Israeli military has once again issued an evacuation order for Gaza residents living in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, to quickly move toward the Al Mawasi area on the coast. The reason is that Israel intends to eliminate the military capabilities of Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups.

Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, in a written statement on Tuesday (1/4/2025), stated that the military operation in the Palestinian territories aims to clear the area of militants and seize broader territories to be incorporated into Israel's security zone.

Katz said Israel's policy of resuming military operations was the only way to end the war.

The onslaught of Israeli fighter jets and artillery in the Gaza region has not ceased since Tuesday (1/4/2025). The airstrike on Tuesday night targeted Khan Younis, killing approximately 17 people, including five women, one of whom was pregnant, as well as children.

The attack on Wednesday was concentrated on a building belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Jabaliya area, northern Gaza, and several other locations.

The Gaza Ministry of Health stated that 41 people were killed in the attacks, including 19 children who died in a clinic operated by PBB that was being used as a shelter.

As in previous attacks, the Israeli military claimed that the attack was aimed at a command and control center used by resistance groups for coordination.

This time, the Israeli military claimed the strike targeted a compound often used by Hamas' Jabaliya Battalion to plan terror attacks. Israel also accused Hamas of using the location as a human shield for their activities.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as a massacre, calling it a "massacre." It called for serious international pressure to stop the escalating Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, another Palestinian resistance group, Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, called the bombing a "real war crime."

According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health as of Tuesday evening, at least 1,042 civilians have been killed as a result of Israeli military operations that have resumed since March 18, 2025. In total, more than 50,399 Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas-Israel war began in October 2023.

Katz did not elaborate on how much Palestinian territory Israel would take. According to Israeli human rights group Gisha, the Israeli government and military have taken control of at least 17 percent of Gaza's total area, or about 62 square kilometers, since the Hamas-Israel war began.

The buffer zone that Israel wants to control contains the daily infrastructure needed by Palestinians, including clean water wells, sewage pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, and most of Gaza's agricultural areas.

The loss of this vital infrastructure will add to the stress on the Palestinian people in the area. Moreover, Israel is also not allowing humanitarian aid into the area.

The expansion of the buffer zone is a strategy to narrow the movement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and also increase their frustration with the war, which Israel and its Western allies have always stated was caused by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Efforts to build dissatisfaction with Hamas have yielded results after demonstrations against the group's resistance policies some time ago. Military operations and territorial expansion are Israel's way of increasing pressure on Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups.

At least this is what is reflected in the statements of Katz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I call on the people of Gaza to act now to eliminate Hamas and repatriate all those kidnapped," Katz said.

Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters that Israeli hostages would only be released through negotiations, not through military pressure. (AFP)