Israel announced on Saturday that its army has completed the establishment of a new security corridor in the Gaza Strip, effectively taking total control over Rafah’s southern city, which Israel had ordered evacuated, and cutting it from the rest of the Palestinian territory.
“The IDF has now completed the acquisition of the Morag axis that crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Yunis and makes the entire area between the Philadelphia and Morag axis part of the Israeli security zone,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a statement. “The activity of the IDF will soon expand strongly to additional locations in most of Gaza and will have to evacuate the fighting areas.”
More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel ended up the fire on March 18. In total, almost 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Earlier this month, Israel’s defense forces issued evacuation orders for large extensions of Gaza devastated by war, including parts of Khan Yunis and almost all Rafah.
The IDF have been expanding their operations in Gaza since the end of the fire in March, earlier this month saying that it will capture extensive territories. On April 2, Katz said that “they will take large areas that will be attached to the security areas of the State of Israel.”
Earlier this month, Israel’s defense forces issued evacuation orders for large extensions of Gaza devastated by war, including parts of Khan Yunis and almost all Rafah.
This occurred when the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced the establishment of the so -called Morag corridor, describing it as “a second filadelphic corridor” that would further divide Gaza and increase the pressure on Hamas to free the removable Israeli hostages.
The so -called Filadelphic corridor refers to a narrow strip of land along the border of Gaza with Egypt that has been under Israeli control since May 2024.
The Palestinians flee from Rafah to Khan Yunis in South Gaza Strip on April 2, 2025.
Eyad Baba/AFP through Gettty Images
The IDF said that the Israeli troops were operating in some areas between Rafah and Khan Yunis, where they had never previously operated and that the strategy behind the establishment of the new security corridor was to separate the Hamas fighters in Rafah from Khan Yunis, the spokesman of the successful Colonel Nada Shoshani, he said in a press session last week.
The FDI said on Saturday that it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled Routes of underground tunnels and Hamas terrorist infrastructure, and completed Rafah’s rodeo”, in the last week and a half.
In one direction to the Palestinians in Gaza after the end of the Morag axis, Katz said that the IDF already continue to expand their territory in Gaza.
A boy pulls a car with mattresses and a girl pushes a wheelchair with belongings while the Palestinians flee from Rafah to Khan Yunis in the Southern Gaza Strip, on April 2, 2025.
Eyad Baba/AFP through Gettty Images
The images published by the Israeli army say that they show the Israeli soldiers who perform operations in a given place as a Tel al-Sultan area, Rafah, Gaza, in this fixed image taken from a video without date, released on April 2, 2025.
Israeli army brochure through Reuters
“This is the last moment to eliminate Hamas and free all hostages and put an end to war: the activity of the IDF will soon expand vigorously to additional locations in most of Gaza,” he said.
“In northern Gaza, residents are also evacuating in Beit Hanoun and other neighborhoods and the area is being taken, expanding the security zone and in the Netzarim corridor. The activity of the IDF will soon expand strongly to additional locations in most gaza and will have to evacuate the combat areas,” Katz said.
Last week, the FDI said at a press conference that the only thing that can stop the progress of the FDI in Gaza is the release of hostages.
The images published by the Israeli army say that they show the Israeli soldiers who perform operations in a given place as a Tel al-Sultan area, Rafah, Gaza, in this fixed image taken from a video without date, released on April 2, 2025.
Israeli army brochure through Reuters
Katz reiterated the support of the proposal of US President Donald Trump to expel the Palestinians for force in Gaza and said they are working to make it possible for Palestinians to in Gaza “they voluntarily move to several countries around the world.”
In February, Trump started from decades of foreign policy of the United States, announcing that the United States would “clean” the Gaza Strip and rebuilt, saying that the Palestinians who live there should leave, a statement that the United Nations and allies, including France and Germany, have called a violation of international law and said it is equivalent to ethnic cleaning.
An image published by the Israeli army says that it shows the Israeli soldiers who carry out operations in a given place as a Tel al-Sultan area, Rafah, Gaza, in this image of a brochure launched on April 2, 2025.
Israeli army brochure through Reuters
Trump at a time threatened to withdraw aid to Egypt and Jordan if they did not accept to welcome the Palestinians, although less than 24 hours later, he said: “I don’t have to threaten that, I don’t think. I think we are above that.”
Egypt and Jordan have firmly opposed the Palestinians displaced by force.
