Israel threatens Palestinians with further genocide and occupation in Gaza

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening with further genocide and the occupation of more of their land.

“The IDF [Israel occupation forces] will soon operate forcefully in other areas of the Gaza Strip, and you will be required to evacuate and lose more and more territory,” said Katz in a recorded message on Army Radio. “The plans are ready and approved.”

Coming on the day that a demonstration took place in northern Gaza calling on Hamas to step down, Katz was clearly being opportunist by inciting Palestinians against the movement as he called on them to “demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages.”

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The minister stressed that if they don’t do so, Hamas will cause them to lose their homes, “with increasing amounts of territory added to Israel’s defensive deployment.” Putting pressure on Hamas is the only way to stop the war, he added.

This is not the first time that Katz has threatened the Palestinians in Gaza. He made similar comments on Tuesday, and last Wednesday he said that the army would forcibly remove them from combat zones, that they would pay the price for this and the worst is yet to come.

Since resuming its genocide in Gaza on 18 March, Israel has killed 830 Palestinians and wounded 1,787 others, most of them children and women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Tel Aviv estimates that there are 59 Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, 24 of whom are still alive. Meanwhile, more than 9,500 Palestinians are detained in its prisons, suffering from torture, starvation and medical neglect, and many have died behind bars, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

READ: UN reports 142,000 displaced in Gaza in 1 week as humanitarian crisis worsens