Israel aims to occupy 25 percent of Gaza in new operation, official says: Axios report
Axios has quoted an Israeli official as saying that Israel will expand its ground operation in Gaza to occupy 25 percent of the Palestinian territory over the next two to three weeks in order to pressure Hamas to release the remaining captives.
“The Israeli official said the ground operation is part of a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign aimed at forcing Hamas to agree to release more hostages,” Axios reported.
“But reoccupation could go beyond Israel’s stated objectives of the war and could serve as a pretence for pressing Palestinians to leave Gaza.”
‘One of the darkest times for our common humanity’: UNRWA chief
The head of UNRWA has condemned Israeli orders forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza amid a heightened military offensive.
“People are treated like pinballs with constant military orders playing with their fate and lives,” the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in a post on X.
Lazzarini noted that the latest displacement order, affecting all residents of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, is impacting more than 140,000 people.
“Where are people supposed to move? Unlike in other conflicts, where populations can find safety, Gaza is being bombarded all across. It is sealed off like a cage with borders shut and basics not allowed in,” he wrote.
“Two million people, half of them children, live there. How is this allowed, at the world’s watch, with no checks and balances.”
Lazzarini called the war “one of the darkest times for our common humanity”.
As if death, diseases, destruction and hunger were not enough for the Palestinians in #Gaza
People are treated like pinballs with constant military orders playing with their fate & lives.
The Israeli Authorities issued today more forced displacement orders in #Rafah impacting…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 31, 2025
UNICEF says 322 children killed in Gaza since Israel resumed attacks
At least 322 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its attacks on the territory on March 18, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said, and at least 609 children have also been injured.
“Most of these children were displaced, sheltering in makeshift tents or damaged homes,” the agency added, noting that some of the children killed were being treated at Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza, which Israel attacked on March 23.
“The resurgence of relentless and indiscriminate bombardments, combined with the complete block on supplies entering the Gaza Strip for more than three weeks, has put the humanitarian response under severe strain and Gaza’s civilians – especially its one million children – at grave risk,” the agency added.
More than 15,000 children have been killed during the 18-month war, over 34,000 were injured, and nearly one million were repeatedly displaced.
