Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz announced his orders to expand the war and evacuate Gaza residents southward, in preparation for displacement.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said he had instructed the army to "take over additional areas in Gaza, evacuate residents, and expand the security zones around Gaza in order to protect Israeli communities and IDF soldiers, while maintaining permanent Israeli control over the area." He stressed that "the longer Hamas refuses to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose to Israel."

Since resuming its war on Gaza last Tuesday, Israel has killed 591 people and injured 1,042 others, the majority of them women and children, as of Thursday evening, according to official figures from the government media office in Gaza.

The Israeli army announced on Thursday the launch of a ground operation in the city of Rafah, the expansion of its military activities in the southern Gaza Strip, and the destruction of infrastructure. It also announced that it had launched "ground operations in the Shaboura area of Rafah," in the far south of the Gaza Strip, adding that it was continuing its operations in the "northern and central Gaza Strip."