Israeli troops have deployed to a newly established security corridor across southern Gaza, the military said on Saturday, as its renewed bombardment of the territory intensified.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday announced the new Morag Corridor and suggested it would cut off the southern city of Rafah, from which Israel had ordered evacuations, from the rest of Gaza.
A military statement said troops with the 36th Division had been deployed. It was not immediately clear how many, or where exactly the new corridor was located. Morag is the name of a an illegal settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, and Netanyahu had suggested it would run between the cities.
Maps published by Israeli media showed the corridor running the width of the narrow coastal strip from east to west.
Netanyahu had said it would be "a second Philadelphi corridor," referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt farther south, which has been under Israeli occupation since last May.
Last month, Israel shattered a ceasefire in Gaza with renewed attacks, killing over 1,000 Palestinians since 18 March.
Israel quickly reasserted control over the Netzarim corridor that cuts off the northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the strip. The Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors run from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
"We are cutting up the strip, and we are increasing the pressure step by step, so that they will give us our hostages," Netanyahu said on Wednesday. His defense minister has said Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones.
Saturday's announcement came shortly after a White House official confirmed that Netanyahu on Monday would again meet with President Donald Trump, their second meeting at the White House since Trump took office in January. The US has been a mediator in ceasefire talks, along with Egypt and Qatar, but also supported Israel's resumption of fighting.
Following his previous meeting with Netanyahu, Trump made the surprise proposal that Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the territory and he suggested that the United States take "ownership" in redeveloping the area, turning it into the "riviera of the Middle East". Palestinians, Arab nations and rights groups slammed Trump's comments calling them an insult to Palestinian sovereignty.
Israel last month again halted all supplies of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza, which rights groups have described as a war crime. Gaza relies largely on humanitarian aid, and its residents cannot easily leave.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, in accordance with phase two of the ceasefire.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Thousands more are feared buried under rubble.
Among Gaza's dead are 15 Palestinian medics killed last month by Israeli forces, who then bulldozed over the bodies along with their mangled vehicles, burying them in a mass grave.
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