Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning on Friday, stating that Israel would annex parts of the Gaza Strip if Hamas did not release the remaining Israeli hostages still held in the conflict-ravaged Palestinian enclave. His statement came as Israel resumed its military operations on Tuesday, ending the relative calm that had been in place since the ceasefire on January 19.

A Palestinian source involved in the ceasefire discussions told AFP late Friday that Hamas had received a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar to restore the truce and exchange hostages for Palestinian inmates “according to a timeline to be agreed upon.” The source also mentioned that the plan “includes the entry of humanitarian aid” into Gaza, which Israel has blocked since March 2.

Israel resumed heavy airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday, citing stalled indirect negotiations over the next phase of the truce after its initial period ended earlier this month. According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, Israeli airstrikes killed 11 people on Friday, three in the early morning and eight more during the day. On Thursday, the agency reported that 504 people had been killed since the bombing restarted, marking one of the highest death tolls in a single period since the war started over 17 months ago, following Hamas’s attack on Israel.

On Friday, Katz stated, “I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza… The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel”. If Hamas does not comply, Katz also threatened to “expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area”.

The military ordered residents of Al-Salatin, Al-Karama, and Al-Awda in southern Gaza to evacuate their homes on Friday, warning of an impending strike. In northern Gaza, AFP images captured residents fleeing along roads filled with debris, using donkey carts loaded with their belongings. On Friday, Israeli forces announced they had killed Hamas’s military intelligence chief in southern Gaza during a strike the previous day, marking the latest high-ranking target in recent operations. Israel’s renewed large-scale military offensive, coordinated with the administration of US President Donald Trump, faced widespread criticism.

The foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Britain issued a joint statement late Friday, urging an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza and describing the latest strikes as “a dramatic step backwards.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned what it referred to as a “deliberate” attack by Israel on a hospital built by Turkey in Gaza. In response to Turkey’s accusations, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP that “The IDF (military) struck terrorists in a Hamas terrorist infrastructure site that previously had served as a hospital in the central Gaza Strip.” The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, however, denounced the attack, calling it “the heinous crime committed by the occupation (Israel) in bombing the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital” and emphasising that it was “the only hospital designated for the treatment of cancer patients in the Gaza Strip.”

The ministry claimed that Israeli forces had operated the hospital as “a base for its forces throughout the period of its occupation of the so-called Netzarim axis.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog voiced concern over the government's actions in a video statement on Thursday, stating that it was “unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home.”

In recent days, thousands of protesters have gathered in Jerusalem, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of restarting military operations without considering the safety of the hostages. Out of the 251 people taken hostage during Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, 58 remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military believes are dead.

On Friday night, Israel’s military announced that it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen shortly after air raid sirens went off in Jerusalem and central Israel. This marks the fourth missile launched from Yemen toward Israel since Tuesday, following threats from Houthi rebels to intensify their attacks in response to Israel’s renewed military action in Gaza.

 A statement came early Saturday, and the Iran-backed group claimed it had “targeted Ben Gurion airport” around Tel Aviv with a ballistic missile. The group also warned that Israeli airspace would remain unsafe “until the aggression against Gaza stops.”

Earlier on Friday, Israel’s military reported intercepting two projectiles launched from northern Gaza. Hamas’s armed wing stated that the attack was in retaliation for “massacres against civilians.”

Meanwhile, Katz declared that Israel would “intensify the fight with aerial, naval and ground shelling as well as by expanding the ground operation until hostages are freed and Hamas is defeated, using all military and civilian pressure points.

He mentioned that this plan involved carrying out Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to transform Gaza into a Mediterranean resort after relocating its Palestinian population to other Arab nations.