Katz, who calls the areas security zones, said on Wednesday that the offensive is intended to force the terrorist-stamped Hamas to release the hostages.
Katz's statement on Wednesday was made during a visit to the so-called Morag corridor, which separates parts of the Gaza Strip near the cities of Rafa and Khan Yunis.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported to have welcomed the US's head of the intelligence agency CIA, Jon Ratcliffe, in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
