The announcement came after Netanyahu’s defense minister said that Israel would seize large areas of Gaza and add them to its so-called security zones.

Over the past week, the Israeli military has pushed back into Rafah, launching air and artillery strikes, sending troops into several neighborhoods, and forcing Palestinians who had recently returned under a cease-fire to flee once again.

The Israeli military said it struck a ‘Hamas command and control centre’ and took steps to lessen harm to civilians.

At least 27 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a school in northern Gaza that was serving as a shelter for displaced families, the Hamas-run health ministry says.Dozens more were wounded when the Dar al-Arqam school in the north-eastern Tuffah district of Gaza City was hit,

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on Thursday killed at least 27 Palestinians sheltering at a school in northern Gaza and wounded 70 more, said Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi, as Israeli forces have expanded their strikes and evacuation orders across the war-torn territory in recent days.

Israel announced a major expansion of military operations in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to its security zones.