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.

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

Demonstrations against Hamas erupted on March 25 in the northern Gaza Strip and spread since then to other parts of the territory. Three common themes can be easily detected in the demands of the demonstrators: a cry for help,

Palestinians hold signs at a protest against the war and Hamas in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in a rare show of public anger against the militant group that rules the territory. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

New military corridors, airstrikes, evacuation and a blockade of humanitarian aid exacerbate the humanitarian situation in Gaza. On Wednesday, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israeli forces were establishing a new security corridor between the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.