GAZA: The Zionist entity announced on Saturday that its military had completed the takeover of a new corridor in southern Gaza, advancing its efforts to seize large parts of the war-battered Palestinian territory. The military also announced a sweeping evacuation order for tens of thousands of residents of Khan Yunis and surrounding areas in southern Gaza ahead of a planned strike after projectiles were fired from there earlier in the day.

The seizure of the “Morag axis” came while Hamas expected “real progress” towards a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, an official from the group told AFP, with senior leaders from the Palestinian movement scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo later on Saturday. “The IDF (military) has now completed its takeover of the Morag axis, which crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Yunis, turning the entire area between the Philadelphi Route (along the border with Egypt) and Morag into part of the (Zionist) security zone,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement addressed to residents of Gaza.

“Soon, IDF operations will intensify and expand to other areas throughout most of Gaza, and you will need

to evacuate the combat zones. In northern Gaza as well — in Beit Hanoun and other neighborhoods — residents are evacuating, the area is being taken over and the security zone is being expanded, including in the Netzarim corridor,” he added.

Since a ceasefire between the Zionist entity and Hamas collapsed in mid-March, the Zionist entity’s renewed offensive in Gaza has displaced hundreds of thousands of people while the military has seized large areas of the war-battered territory. Top Zionist officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have repeatedly said that the ongoing assault aims to pressure Hamas into freeing the remaining 58 captives held in Gaza. Hamas said the offensive not only “kills defenseless civilians but also makes the fate of the occupation’s prisoners uncertain”.

Since the Zionist entity resumed its Gaza strikes, more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to the health ministry in the territory to which the Zionist entity cut off aid more than a month ago. Dozens of these strikes have killed “only women and children”, the UN human rights office said Friday, as a Zionist attack in the territory’s south killed a family of 10.

“Ten people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital as martyrs following a (Zionist) air strike that targeted the Farra family home in central Khan Yunis,” civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. AFP footage of the aftermath showed several bodies wrapped in white shrouds and blankets, and the mangled concrete slabs and twisted metal of the family’s home. AFP footage of the aftermath of a strike on Saturday showed the bodies of four men, wrapped in white shrouds, at a local hospital, while several individuals gathered to offer prayers before the funeral.

In a separate announcement, the military ordered residents of Khan Yunis and surrounding areas to evacuate after the air force intercepted three projectiles fired from south Gaza earlier in the day. “IDF troops are operating with significant force in the area, and will strike with intensity on any location from which rockets are launched,” the military said on X. The United Nations had warned a day before that expanding Zionist evacuation orders were resulting in the “forcible transfer” of people into ever-shrinking areas, raising “real concern as to the future viability of Palestinians as a group in Gaza”.

Later on Saturday, a Hamas delegation and Egyptian mediators were to meet in Cairo. Hamas has not yet received any new ceasefire proposals, despite Zionist media reports suggesting that the Zionist entity and Egypt had exchanged draft documents outlining a potential ceasefire and hostage release agreement. The Times of Israel reported that Egypt’s proposal would involve the release of eight living captives and eight bodies, in exchange for a truce lasting between 40 and 70 days and a substantial release of Palestinian prisoners.

US President Donald Trump said during a cabinet meeting this week that “we’re getting close to getting them (captives in Gaza) back”. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was also quoted in a Zionist media report as saying “a very serious deal is taking shape, it’s a matter of days”. Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday at least 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,933.– AFP