Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military is “switching gears” in Gaza, dividing and seizing more parts of the strip, a move experts say could mean Israel establishing deeper, more long-term control over the territory.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the military was "dissecting" the Gaza Strip and seizing territory to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages still held in the enclave. The military is "dissecting the (Gaza) Strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages",

At least 73 people were killed during Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority, as Israel launched a major expansion of military operations. A recent ceasefire has become a distant memory for Palestinians in the coastal enclave after Israel announced plans to establish another security corridor dividing the strip and the army said it had encircled part of the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Prime minister says country has ‘shifted gears’ in its efforts to force Hamas to release 59 hostages it still holds

Israel's defense minister said expanding operations will "crush and clean the area" of militants, despite children making up many of the strikes' victims.

Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter on Thursday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced "security zone" they intend to seize.

At least 19 people are reported killed in Jabalia as Israel's PM says it is expanding ground operations to pressure Hamas.

In pressing forward with its assault on the territory, Israel hopes to squeeze Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages. But other objectives have emerged.