Netanyahu: “We are increasing the pressure step by step”: IDF links Muasi coast to Israeli Sufa Border Crossing, tightening noose around Rafah and separating it from Khan Yunis, providing a corridor through which Gazans can be voluntairly evacuated safely.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Wednesday that IDF forces are carving a new military corridor through southern Gaza, aimed at isolating Rafah and pressing Hamas to release hostages. The new east-west route, dubbed the Morag Corridor, runs from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea and links directly with the coastal Muasi strip — formerly home to several Gush Katif settlements.

“We are now cutting off the Strip and we are increasing the pressure step by step… so they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video message. “The longer they refuse to give them up, the more the pressure will increase until they do.”

Strategically, the corridor has already severed Khan Younis from Rafah, further segmenting Hamas-controlled territory. The move builds on Israel’s earlier consolidation of the Netzarim Corridor, which isolates Gaza City and the northern third of the enclave. With sustained pressure from both the north and the south, Israel is redrawing the map of Gaza in real time.

“This is a second Philadelphi,” Netanyahu said, referring to the sealed corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border. “We are shifting gears.” The new corridor roughly parallels the Egyptian border an the controversial Philadephi Route several miles to the northeast, reaching Israel at or near the Suda crossing point, crossing the evacuated Morag settlement at its approximate midpoint.

Despite having agreed under the January hostage deal to withdraw from the Philadelphi route by day 50, Netanyahu has since reversed course. IDF troops not only remain in the corridor — they have expanded their control. The Prime Minister maintains that relinquishing the border would allow weapons smuggling from Egypt to resume.

The IDF is now active across northern, central, and southern Gaza, consolidating holdouts of seized territory and pushing out both Hamas fighters and Palestinian civilians. The Muasi strip, previously a civilian humanitarian zone, now serves as a western anchor for the Morag Corridor.

As part of the intensified campaign, Israel deployed a third division to the south on Wednesday, accompanying a wave of heavy airstrikes. Over 50 Hamas targets were hit overnight. By day’s end, dozens more were struck.

Palestinian sources claim more than 40 deaths, including 19 in a UN-run clinic in Jabalia. The IDF said the building housed a Hamas command center, and that measures were taken to limit civilian harm. The casualty numbers have not been independently verified.

Two rockets were fired from northern Gaza toward Sderot later that evening. Both were intercepted by air defenses; no injuries were reported.

The IDF responded with an evacuation warning to residents of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia. “This is a final warning,” said Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee, who published a map of the targeted zones on X.

In Rafah, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar met with soldiers in Tel Sultan. Zamir declared, “The only thing that can stop us from advancing is the release of our hostages.” Bar, who is reportedly being dismissed by Netanyahu, reaffirmed: “Hamas will continue to pay the price as long as the 59 hostages are not returned.”

With Gaza now functionally partitioned, the IDF’s methodical strategy appears focused on incremental occupation, destruction of terror infrastructure, and the use of mounting pressure to secure the hostages’ release.