Israeli defence minister says military expanding operation in Gaza

Israels military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to seize large areas The defence minister said Wednesday as airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis killed 17 people overnight according to hospital officialsIsraels offensive in the Palestinian territory was expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a written statementIsraels security perimeter which runs along the border with Israel in northern and eastern Gaza has been a crucial part of the countrys defense for decades used as a way to protect its citizens living near the territoryKatz called on Gaza residents to expel Hamas and return all hostages The militant group still holds 59 captives of whom 24 are believed to still be alive after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other dealsHeres the latestIsraeli airstrikes on Khan Younis kill 17 people hospital officials sayIsraeli airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip have killed 17 people hospital officials sayThe bodies of 12 people killed in an overnight airstrike were brought to Nasser Hospital officials said Wednesday and the victims included five women one of them pregnant and two children Three men from the same family were killed as were the owners of the house that was bombed officials saidGaza European Hospital received the bodies of five people who were killed in two separate airstrikes officials there saidUnited Nations calls Israeli claim that Gaza has food for a long time ridiculousUN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations is iquestat the tail end of our supplies forcing the UN World Food Programme to close all 25 of its bakeries in Gaza because of a lack of flour and cooking fuelWFP doesnt close its bakeries for fun Dujarric saidHe said the food situation remains very critical since Israel closed all crossings into Gaza a month ago cutting off all humanitarian deliveriesCOGAT the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories said Tuesday that nearly 450000 tons of aid entered Gaza during the ceasefireCOGAT claimed at least some of the aid from the UN and its humanitarian partners was being diverted to HamasResponding to that Dujarric said The UN has kept a chain of custody and a very good chain of custody on all the aidSuspected US airstrikes in Yemen kill at least 4 peopleSuspected US airstrikes battered rebelcontrolled areas of Yemen into Wednesday with the Houthis saying one strike killed at least four people near the Red Sea port city of HodeidaThe intense campaign of airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters stemming from the IsraelHamas war has killed at least 65 people according to casualty figures released by the HouthisThe campaign appears to show no signs of stopping as the Trump administration again linked their airstrikes on the Iranianbacked Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme While so far giving no specifics about the campaign and its targets White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt put the overall number of strikes on Tuesday at over 200This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever