Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has threatened to annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas releases the remaining Israeli hostages held in the war-battered Palestinian territory, Reuters reports.

In a statement, Katz said: “I ordered [the army] to seize more territory in Gaza … The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel.”

Should Hamas not comply, Katz also threatened “to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area”.

The military urged residents of the Al-Salatin, Al-Karama and Al-Awda areas of southern Gaza to evacuate their homes yesterday ahead of a threatened strike.

AFP images from northern Gaza showed donkey carts piled high with belongings as residents fled their homes along rubble-strewn roads.