Israel's military "dissects (Gaza Strip) and increases the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages", says Netanyahu in a statement and adds that Israel "takes over territory, strikes against terrorists and destroys infrastructure".
Netanyahu calls the corridor the Morag corridor, which refers to a Jewish settlement that was located between Rafah and Khan Younis and was evacuated when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. This suggests that it would go between the two southern cities.
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz states that the military operation in Gaza is being stepped up and that the Israeli forces will "clear the area of terrorists and their infrastructure, and occupy large areas that will be added to the State of Israel's security zones".
Many killed
During the night and morning, Israel's military attacked southern Gaza with air and artillery strikes.
The attacks on the Khan Yunis and Rafah areas lasted for several hours, according to the newspaper Haaretz, which cites Palestinian media reports. Around 20 people are reported to have been killed, most of them in Khan Yunis.
According to the civil defense in Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, at least another 20 people, including nine children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a UNRWA clinic in Jabalia north of Gaza City. A dozen people are reported to have been injured. The clinic was not an active medical facility at the time of the attack, says the UN agency, but was sheltering around 735 Palestinians on the run.
Israel's military and security service Shin Bet claim to have attacked Hamas terrorists in the attack on the UN building in Jabalia. In a statement, they claim to have "taken several measures" to minimize the risk of civilian casualties.
Ordered evacuation
Just before Katz's statement, The Times of Israel reported that Israeli ground forces had begun moving into parts of Rafah. According to the newspaper, another Israeli unit was sent into southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning.
On Monday, Israel called on all Palestinians in large parts of the city in southern Gaza to evacuate. The civilian population is being urged to move to the supposedly safe zone of al-Mawasi, which has however been subjected to deadly Israeli attacks several times.
It is unclear how large an area Israel intends to take in its new offensive. The country already has a large buffer zone within Gaza, as well as a large "security zone" around the so-called Netzarim corridor, which separates the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.
