Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned today that Gaza City could be destroyed if the Palestinian Islamist movement "Hamas" does not accept Israel's terms, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The Israeli minister made his remarks at a time when Israel is preparing for a large-scale offensive in Gaza.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would order the army to seize Gaza City, Israel Katz warned that the largest city in the Palestinian enclave could "turn into Rafah or Beit Hanoun" – areas that were destroyed in earlier stages of the war.
"The gates of hell will soon open for the "Hamas" murderers and rapists in Gaza unless they agree to Israel's terms for stopping the war," Katz wrote on the social network "Ex".
He reiterated Israel's demands for a ceasefire: the release of all hostages and the complete disarmament of "Hamas". The group has said it will release the hostages in exchange for an end to the war, but refuses to disarm unless a Palestinian state is established.
The American newspaper "Washington Post" points out that Israel, which by its own estimates now controls 75 percent of the Gaza Strip, is "moving full speed ahead to capture Gaza City".
For the evacuation of civilians to be legal under international humanitarian law, it must be temporary, the occupying power must ensure that the place where the civilians are relocated can meet their basic needs, and it must be presented as an option in the context of lawful military operations in the area, Adil Haque, a professor of international law at Rutgers University, told the publication. If the operations the Israeli military will conduct are indiscriminate or otherwise unlawful, then it is no longer a question of lawful evacuation but of forced displacement, which consists of "the unlawful use of force to compel civilians to leave an area," Haque said.