The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Israeli military is expanding its ground operations across the Gaza Strip, with forces operating in key locations across the territory in an attempt to pressure Hamas as talks to end the fighting and release more hostages stall.

Israeli forces entered the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanoun on Saturday to lay the groundwork for expanding the Israeli security buffer zone, a several hundred-meter-wide area established by the Israeli military inside Gaza and extending along its border with Israel.

The army said it is now operating in areas to expand its scope and uproot Hamas infrastructure throughout Gaza, from Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the north to the Netzarim corridor that divides the central Gaza Strip and Rafah across the Egyptian border in the south. New evacuation orders were issued on Sunday for Palestinians to leave the expanding operations in Rafah.

Israel is also attempting to assassinate prominent Hamas members. Hamas said its airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Sunday night killed Salah al-Bardawil, a member of the movement's political bureau. According to Palestinian health authorities, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 600 Palestinians since Netanyahu resumed his war of annihilation in Gaza with an intense airstrike at dawn on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

The war of extermination has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians since it began more than 17 months ago. The war erupted after Hamas launched Operation Protective Edge on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people, including 311 Israeli soldiers on duty, and saw 250 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which entered into force on January 19, ended on March 2, as Israel refused to implement its commitments to move to the second phase, which, according to the agreement, stipulates the withdrawal of the occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip.

According to experts, Israel's current moves are part of the Netanyahu government's strategy to pressure Hamas into accepting a deal to release the approximately 60 remaining hostages in the Strip, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to secure their release. Tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in the days since the fighting resumed, urging their leaders to pursue a deal. Many on the Israeli right have called for the state to retain Palestinian territories and support Palestinians who want to leave the Gaza Strip, arguing that such pressure tactics are necessary to pressure Hamas.

Arab countries have rejected President Trump's plan to displace Gaza's residents to neighboring countries while the Strip is rebuilt.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday that the Israeli security cabinet had approved the establishment of a new department to facilitate voluntary emigration from Gaza, after saying over the weekend that he had directed the Israeli military to seize additional territory in Gaza and expand its buffer zone. Katz said on Friday: "As long as Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, it will lose more and more territory that will be annexed to Israel."