Israeli Defense Minister Threatens to Evacuate Gaza City if Hamas Abducts Israeli

On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to empty Gaza City of its inhabitants if Hamas again abducted Israeli citizens, as it did during the attacks of October 7, 2023. Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Katz said: “If even an Israeli soldier or civilian is abducted, Gaza City will be evacuated from its million people.” He added: “It’s the language that jihadist terrorist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon understand, and it is also a language we speak: evacuating the population, destroying infrastructure and taking the territory.”

The article notes that the forced displacement of a civilian population is likely to constitute a war crime under international law. It also reports that almost all of the approximately two million people in the Gaza Strip have been displaced at least once, moving from place to place across a territory that has been transformed into a vast field of ruins. Protecting people who cannot protect themselves, as Proverbs 31:8-9 calls for, is the matter at the center of this warning (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Katz did not say whether his warning was based on a specific kidnapping plot. He referred instead to “certain intentions and intelligence reports.” According to the article, he said the warning was directed not only at Hamas but also “to his supporters, from Iran to (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan,” the Turkish President. The article notes that Israel has repeatedly confronted Iran militarily for two years and that its relations with Turkey have deteriorated sharply, notably because of Ankara’s criticism of the war in Gaza.

The article gives the broader toll of the war. At least 73,919 people have been killed and 174,977 injured in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli war began after the attack by the Palestinian movement Hamas, which killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The article reports that the Gaza Ministry of Health said Israeli bombings continue despite the “ceasefire.” According to its latest official report, published Tuesday at midday, Gaza hospitals recorded four additional deaths in the previous 24 hours and 25 injured following strikes on Monday evening, and a fifth person died from injuries received in an earlier Israeli attack. Citing several local media outlets, the article says the Israeli air force struck Gaza City on Monday evening, and that several areas of the enclave were targeted by artillery fire.

The article states that since a ceasefire took effect on October 11, 2025, under the sponsorship of the United States, at least 1,399 Palestinians have been killed and 4,863 injured by daily Israeli strikes and fire. It adds that the Israeli army occupies more than 60% of the territory.

Source: Read the original report (translated from French)