Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would bolster its military presence in the Palestinian territory to “destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.
The operation would “seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones”, he said in a statement, without specifying how much territory.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 19 people were killed, including nine children, when an Israeli strike “targeted an UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) building housing a medical clinic in Jabalia refugee camp”.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it struck Hamas militants “inside a command and control centre” in north Gaza’s Jabalia. It separately confirmed the building housed a UN clinic.
The Palestinian foreign ministry, based in the occupied West Bank, condemned the “massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia” and called for “serious international pressure” to halt Israel’s widening offensive.
Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter – a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
Israel also carried out deadly air strikes in southern and central Gaza on Wednesday. The civil defence said dawn strikes killed at least 13 people in Khan Yunis and two in Nuseirat refugee camp.
Katz warned last week that the military would soon “operate with full force” in more parts of Gaza.
In February, he announced plans for an agency to oversee the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the territory.
That followed Israel’s backing of a proposal from US President Donald Trump for the United States to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants. The proposal outraged Gazans and drew widespread international condemnation.
Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire. (AFP)
