Israel's defence minister has announced that its army will seize 'large areas' of Gaza in a major expansion of its military operations in the war-torn Palestinian territory. The expanded operation would 'seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones', he said, without saying how much territory Israel would take. The campaign will see Israel try to occupy 25 per cent of the besieged territory over the next two to three weeks, according to a senior Israeli official. They told Axios that the mission is part of a 'maximum pressure' strategy aimed at forcing Hamas to released more hostages.