Katz Warns Gaza City Evacuation If Israeli Abducted

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on Tuesday that Gaza City and its residents would be forcibly evacuated southward if any Israeli soldier or civilian is abducted, speaking at a memorial ceremony for the fallen of the 1973 Yom Kippur War at the National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. Addressing Hamas and what he described as its supporters, from Iran to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Katz said that if even one Israeli soldier or civilian is abducted, the city of Gaza with its homes and what he called terror towers would be evacuated southward with its one million residents. He said it would be dealt with in the same manner as Rafah, Beit Hanoun and 70 percent of the Gaza Strip until the abductee is returned. Katz described the approach as evacuating the population, destroying the infrastructure and taking the territory, calling it the language that extremist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon understand. The Israel Defense Forces currently hold roughly 54 percent of the Gaza Strip, deployed along the so-called Yellow Line running through the territory from north to south.