Jerusalem, 2 April
Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas”, the defence minister said Wednesday, as airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis killed 17 people overnight, according to hospital officials.

Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory 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,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement.

Israel's security perimeter, which runs along the border with Israel in northern and eastern Gaza, has been a crucial part of the country's defense for decades, used as a way to protect its citizens living near the territory.

Katz called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.” The militant group still holds 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to still be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

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Israeli airstrikes on Khan Younis kill 17 people, hospital officials say

Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip have killed 17 people, hospital officials say.

The bodies of 12 people killed in an overnight airstrike were brought to Nasser Hospital, officials said Wednesday, and the victims included five women, one of them pregnant, and two children. Three men from the same family were killed, as were the owners of the house that was bombed, officials said.

Gaza European Hospital received the bodies of five people who were killed in two separate airstrikes, officials there said.

United Nations calls Israeli claim that Gaza has food for a long time 'ridiculous'

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is “at the tail end of our supplies,” forcing the UN World Food Programme to close all 25 of its bakeries in Gaza because of a lack of flour and cooking fuel.

“WFP doesn't close its bakeries for fun,” Dujarric said.

He said the food situation remains “very critical” since Israel closed all crossings into Gaza a month ago, cutting off all humanitarian deliveries.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said Tuesday that nearly 450,000 tons of aid entered Gaza during the ceasefire. COGAT claimed at least some of the aid from the UN and its humanitarian partners was being diverted to Hamas.

Responding to that, Dujarric said, “The UN has kept a chain of custody, and a very good chain of custody, on all the aid.”

Suspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 people

Suspected US airstrikes battered rebel-controlled areas of Yemen into Wednesday, with the Houthis saying one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

The intense campaign of airstrikes under President Donald Trump, targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the Israel-Hamas war, has killed at least 65 people, according to casualty figures released by the Houthis.

The campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranian-backed Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme. While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at over 200.