Israel has continued to tighten its grip on the territory of the Gaza Strip. As a result, more and more of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants are being squeezed into an ever-shrinking space while intense bombardment continues.

On Saturday, Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had taken over large swathes of territory in the southern Gaza Strip.

"The IDF has now completed the takeover of the Morag axis, which crosses Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis, making the entire area between the Philadelphia axis and Morag part of the Israeli security zone," Katz said in a statement.

In a post on X he added that "Gaza will become smaller and more isolated, and more and more of its residents will be forced to evacuate from the fighting zones.” He urged Palestinians to "remove Hamas" to "stop the war."

The Israeli government had vowed to escalate its offensive and to seize large parts of Gaza to pressure Hamas, designated a terrorist group by many countries, into releasing the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive, and accept new ceasefire terms.

Civilians paying the price

Once again, the civilian population of Gaza is paying the price. Before the war, the Rafah governorate in the southern end of the Gaza Strip was home to some 200,000 people.

When Abdul Rahman Taha returned to his neighborhood in Rafah after the temporary ceasefire took effect in January, he found "only a small part of the house left standing." The family stayed in the ruins of their former home. By early April, the Israeli military issued displacement orders to residents, and Taha and his family were forced to leave once again.

"Rafah is almost completely destroyed. There are very few houses left. The streets are already in ruins and will have to be rebuilt. Now they're going to finish the job and destroy what's left," said Taha, who is now back living in a tent in Khan Younis in even harsher conditions.

After the first phase of the ceasefire ended in early March, the Israeli government halted all fuel, food, commercial and humanitarian supplies to Gaza. The United Nations warned on Monday that "the humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities."

"Just as we thought the war was over, it returned with a vengeance, with blood flowing nonstop, 24 hours a day," Abu Taha said. "There's even more chaos. The internal security situation is starting to deteriorate. It is a terrifying feeling."

The 51-year-old Palestinian is concerned that his hometown is now part of a "security zone." The newly created Morag Corridor, a land corridor running about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from east to west, cuts off Rafah from neighbouring Khan Younis and from its border crossing with Egypt.

It is named after a former Israeli settlement that was dismantled in 2005, as was the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, which separates southern from northern Gaza. The IDF controls movement between both areas with checkpoints. The military left the area during the ceasefire but was redeployed in March.

Abu Taha hopes that Israel wants to "intimidate people and exert political pressure" rather than prevent him from ever returning home. However, he said, "the problem is that the whole future of Gaza has become unknown."

The Israeli government has not shared any plans for the day after in Gaza and has depicted its moves as part of its maximum pressure strategy on Hamas. Human rights groups say the Israeli government appears to be laying the groundwork for long-term military control by dividing the Strip into different parts through corridors and expanding an existing buffer zone along Gaza's border area with Israel.

Renewed displacement of the population

Abu Taha is one of an estimated 400,000 people newly displaced by the latest offensive, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). While hundreds of thousands of displaced people were able to return from the south to the north during the ceasefire in January, many are now being told by the Israeli military to move further west.

According to OCHA, almost 70% of the territory has been placed under "displacement order" or has been designated as "no-go" zones where the Israeli authorities require humanitarian teams to coordinate their movements. The Israeli military has repeatedly claimed the evacuations are to keep civilians out of harm's way, and some have targeted areas where Palestinian militants have recently fired rockets into Israel.

Defense Minister Katz reiterated over the weekend that "voluntary passage" to other countries would be allowed for "all those who are interested," in reference to US President Donald Trump's controversial "relocation plan" for all 2.3 million Gazans — a plan the UN says amounts to forcible transfer.

Expanded buffer zone flattens villages and farmland

In addition to the displacement and division of the territory, Israel has gradually expanded a pre-existing buffer zone inside Gaza that stretches from the north along the border area with Israel in the east to the southern border with Egypt.

Breaking the Silence, which collects testimonies of former IDF soldiers serving in the occupied Palestinian Territories, released a report last week detailing what they describe as systematic destruction of homes, infrastructure and farmland in the buffer zone. They say that the area is now largely off limits to Palestinians.  

"We demolished everything: agriculture fields, graveyards, industrial areas, homes, obviously. The assumption in the IDF is that it would give us more security. Why? Because we can see Hamas or Islamic Jihad approaching," said Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence.

Much of the land now included in the buffer zone was previously agricultural land, raising questions about the long-term impact and whether Gaza can produce at least some of its own food again. According to estimates by Breaking the Silence, the buffer zone is up to 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) wide in some areas, reaching urban neighborhoods such as Shejaiya in eastern Gaza City.

Lamia Bahtiti left Shejaiya last week to the sound of intense shelling and bombardment.

"All the areas near the border — north, south and east — have been taken over and are under artillery bombardment. All areas inside the Gaza Strip are under aerial bombardment. There is no escape," the 43-year-old told DW by phone from western Gaza City, where the family is now staying with relatives.

She faces an increasingly difficult daily struggle to provide for her family, with "no cleaning supplies in the market, no drinking water, not enough food, no gas, and the health situation is dire."

"Gaza is not the Gaza it used to be. We are trying to survive for the sake of our children and in the hope of a better future," she said.

Emily Gordine contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

Edited by: Rob Mudge