Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.21-122722/https://www.ft.com/content/f31073b8-694a-43c0-b262-ebda774e3946

Israel will begin annexing parts of Gaza if Hamas does not release the remaining hostages held in the strip, the country’s defence minister warned.

Israel Katz said on Friday that the Israel Defense Forces would “seize additional territories [in Gaza], while evacuating the population” if Hamas did not agree to revised terms of a hostage-for-ceasefire deal.

“The more Hamas continues its refusal, the more territory it will lose and be annexed to Israel,” Katz added, threatening to expand border “security zones” and bring them under “permanent Israeli control”.

Israeli forces on Friday pushed ahead with a new ground offensive in the enclave, days after launching a ferocious air campaign that shattered a two-month-old, US-brokered ceasefire.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed so far, according to local health authorities, and the Israeli military has issued repeated evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people living in border areas. The IDF says it has killed several senior Hamas political officials.