An Israeli airstrike hit components of a hospital in Gaza City early on Sunday, with the local civil defense agency reporting the damage. Israel has taken control of a corridor further south in the Palestinian territory, signaling its intention to extend its military operations.

No casualties were reported following the strike, and the Israeli military has stated that it is investigating the incident.

The civil defense agency in the Hamas-governed territory reported that the Israeli air force targeted a building in the Al-Ahli hospital, also known as Baptist or Ahli Arab hospital, in Gaza City after midnight.

The airstrike occurred “minutes after the Israeli army warned to evacuate this building of patients, the injured, and their companions,” according to the agency’s statement. “The bombing led to the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units,” it added.

Hospitals, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

On Saturday, Israel declared that it has completed the construction of a new security corridor that cuts off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, with the military planning to expand operations in vast parts of the small coastal region. Palestinians’ living spaces became further limited.

“Soon, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] operations will escalate and spread to other areas throughout most of Gaza, and you will need to evacuate the combat zones,” defense minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

“The IDF has now completed its takeover of the Morag axis, which crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Yunis, turning the entire area between the Philadelphi Route [the border with Egypt] and Morag into part of the Israeli security zone,” Katz said.

The statement urged Palestinians to rise up against Hamas and demand the release of the remaining hostages, stating: “This is the only way to end the war.” There was no immediate response from Hamas.

Last week, Israeli troops were sent to a new security corridor named Morag, after the former Jewish settlement between Rafah and Khan Younis. The military ordered extensive evacuations covering much of Rafah, suggesting that another significant ground operation might be imminent.

The Rafah municipality’s statement describe Israel’s actions as “blatant violation of international legitimacy”.

Israel has vowed to seize large parts of Gaza to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive, and to accept proposed new terms for a ceasefire.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has also established a month-long blockade on food, fuel, and humanitarian aid, which has left the territory’s approximately 2 million Palestinians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. Rights groups consider this tactic a war crime.

Israel asserts that sufficient supplies entered Gaza during the temporary ceasefire that ended last month. Aid groups have challenged this claim.

Netanyahu stated that Morag would be “a second Philadelphi corridor,” comparing it to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt, which has been under Israeli control since May 2024. Israel has also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which separates the northern third of Gaza from the rest of the territory.

The corridors, in conjunction with the buffer zone that Israel has razed and expanded, provide the Israeli military with control over more than 50% of the territory.

Katz stated that Palestinians interested in voluntarily relocating to other countries would be able to do so as part of a proposal by Donald Trump. Palestinians have rejected this proposal and declared their determination to stay in their homeland.

Trump and Israeli officials have not specified how they would react if Palestinians refuse to leave Gaza. However, Human Rights Watch and other groups argue that the plan would be equivalent to “ethnic cleansing”—forcibly relocating an ethnic group’s civilian population from a geographic area.

Many Palestinians are congregating in squalid tent camps or among the ruins of their former homes, often displacing many times due to Israel’s evacuation orders since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and triggered the conflict.

On Saturday, Israel commanded the evacuation of areas east of Khan Younis before an imminent attack. Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee mentioned that militants had launched rockets into Israel from these areas.

Hamas has contended that the onslaught poses risks to the hostages as well. On Saturday, the family of the last surviving American hostage in Gaza responded to the release of a new video showing Edan Alexander speaking under duress.

“When you sit down to celebrate Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other 58 hostages are not back home,” the family declared in a statement.

Families and supporters again gathered in Tel Aviv to demand a deal to bring everyone home.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 individuals, mostly civilians, and the abduction of another 250, was the onset of the conflict in Gaza, the most severe war between Israel and the Palestinians in over 70 years.

Israel’s counter-military campaign has killed over 50,000 people, majority of them civilians, according to the territorial health ministry.

With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse