JERUSALEM/GAZA, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that Israel will soon expand its operations to most of the Gaza Strip territory.

He told Gaza residents in a message that they have to evacuate due to the expected operations.

"For those who are interested, voluntary crossing to several countries will also be possible" under Washington's plan, which Israel is "working to implement," Katz said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial relocation proposal for Gaza residents.

"This is the last moment to remove Hamas, release all the Israeli hostages, and bring an end to the war," Katz remarked.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced in a statement that it had fully encircled southern Gaza's Rafah city by completing the establishment of the "Morag Corridor," a route in the south of the strip intended to separate Rafah and Khan Younis.

The IDF noted that it will extend operational control over the corridor and carry out "counter-terrorism" operations in the area. The Israeli military, through the seizure of the key route, turned the area between the "Morag Corridor" and the "Philadelphi Corridor" near the border with Egypt into part of its security zone.

Later on Saturday, the IDF said its Air Force intercepted three rockets fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.

The rocket launches triggered sirens in open spaces bordering Gaza, with no casualties reported, it added.

Following the rocket launches, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement that Israel "will attack with great force any area from which rockets are fired," and ordered residents of the Khan Younis area to move westward to the "designated" humanitarian zones in the Al-Mawasi area.

Residents are also being evacuated in northern Gaza, and territory is being taken there, along with the expansion of the military buffer zone on the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, Adraee added.

Also on Saturday, the Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israel has used water as "a weapon of war" to commit "a crime of slow mass killing" against Gaza residents.

It accused Israel of destroying over 90 percent of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza, preventing technical crews from reaching the strip to repair damaged facilities, targeting workers who were carrying out their humanitarian missions, and blocking the supply of electricity and fuel needed to operate wells and desalination plants, among others.

Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2. It then ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the enclave.

On Friday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East issued an urgent warning over rapidly depleting essential supplies in Gaza.

The renewed Israeli attacks have so far killed 1,563 Palestinians and injured 4,004 others, Gaza health authorities said Saturday, adding the death toll in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 has risen to 50,933, with 116,045 injured. Enditem

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