Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding to "crush" the area of Hamas and seize "large areas," Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday.

Palestinian paramedic Munther Abed rejects Israel's assertion that the vehicles approached troops with their lights off.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinians held funerals Monday for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and mangled ambulances were found buried in an impromptu mass grave, apparently plowed over by Israeli military bulldozers.

Elbit Systems , Israel's largest defence firm, said on Tuesday it received a $130 million contract to supply advanced rocket munitions to an unnamed European country.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday for most of Rafah and suggested it may soon launch another ground operation in the city.

The Israeli military issued sweeping orders, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.

We state again very clearly: civilians, as well as medical and humanitarian personnel, and aid workers assisting people on the ground in this terrible crisis, must not be targeted,’ Foreign Ministry s

Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, announced on Wednesday that the country’s renewed military offensive in Gaza is intensifying as forces move to seize more territory.The operation, he stated, aims to “crush and cleanse the area of ​​terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seize large areas that will be annexed to the security zones of the state of Israel.