Israel has continued to tighten its grip on the territory of the Gaza Strip. As a result, more and more of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants are being squeezed into an ever-shrinking space while intense bombardment continues.

On Saturday, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had taken over large swathes of territory in the southern Gaza Strip.

"The IDF has now completed the takeover of the Morag axis, which crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis, making the entire area between the Philadelphia axis and Morag part of the Israeli security zone," Katz said in a statement.

In a post on X he added that "Gaza will become smaller and more isolated, and more and more of its residents will be forced to evacuate from the fighting zones.” He urged Palestinians to "remove Hamas" to "stop the war."

The Israeli government had vowed to escalate its offensive and to seize large parts of Gaza to pressure Hamas, designated a terrorist group by many countries, into releasing the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive, and accept new ceasefire terms.

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Once again, the civilian population of Gaza is paying the price. Before the war, the Rafah governorate in the southern end of the Gaza Strip was home to some 200,000 people.

When Abdul Rahman Taha returned to his neighborhood in Rafah after the temporary ceasefire took effect in January, he found........

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