Israel expands Gaza offensive as dozens killed

JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip is expanding and it aims to seize "large areas", the defense minister said, while officials at hospitals inside the Palestinian territory said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday killed dozens of people.

Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory was "expanding to crush and clean the area" of militants and "seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the state of Israel," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a written statement.

It came as Israel continued to target the Gaza Strip, with airstrikes overnight killing 17 people in the southern city of Khan Younis. Another 15 people were killed in a strike in the north of the strip on Wednesday, according to officials at hospitals.