Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip is expanding to “crush” the area of Hamas terrorists and seize “large areas,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday.

Katz said in a statement that the military operation was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel.”

Israel’s security perimeter, which runs along the border with Israel in northern and eastern Gaza, has been used for decades as a way to protect its citizens residing near the territory.

It is unclear which areas of Gaza will be seized in the expanded operation, which Katz says includes the “extensive evacuation” of people from areas where fighting is happening.

Displaced Palestinians carry their belongings on the outskirts of Gaza City, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP)

Officials at the Nasser Hospital said the bodies of 12 people killed in an overnight airstrike were brought to the hospital, including five women — one of whom was pregnant — and two children. Officials at the Gaza European Hospital said five bodies of people killed in two separate airstrikes were taken to the hospital.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, including hundreds killed in airstrikes since a ceasefire ended about two weeks ago, according to the Hamas-run government’s Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. Israel claims, without offering evidence, that it has killed roughly 20,000 terrorists in the war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.