Israel said it’s expanding military operations in Gaza, days after asking people in southern parts of the Palestinian territory to leave as it prepares for more intense fighting with Hamas.

Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter-proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead. Israel said on March 29 it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the U.

Israel’s defense minister said the military is taking control of significant territory to establish security zones.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had seized a corridor of land would could split one of Gaza’s largest city’s from the rest of the enclave.

Prime minister says country has ‘shifted gears’ in its efforts to force Hamas to release 59 hostages it still holds

Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize “large areas,” the defense minister said, while officials at hospitals inside the Palestinian territory said that Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people,

Israel has been accused of executing Palestinian paramedics after bodies were found in a mass grave with their hands tied and bullet wounds to the head.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday a major expansion of military operations in Hamas-run Gaza, saying the army would seize "large areas" of the Palestinian territory.

Israel to seize territory in the war-torn Palestinian enclave as it prepares for more intense fighting with Hamas.