TEL AVIV, September 22. /TASS/. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has stated that the radical Palestinian movement Hamas is planning new kidnappings of Israelis, warning that if even one Israeli is taken hostage, the Jewish state will evacuate 1 million residents of Gaza City to the south and destroy the town.

"In light of various intentions and intelligence, I warn the terror organization [Hamas] and its supporters, from Iran to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan: if even one Israeli soldier or civilian is kidnapped, the entire Gaza City’s one million residents will be evacuated southward," Katz said at a memorial ceremony for soldiers killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, as quoted by The Times of Israel.

The minister went on to threaten to destroy Gaza's "homes and terror towers," indicating that the city would face the same fate as other settlements in the Gaza Strip that have been almost completely destroyed by the Israeli military during fighting since 2023. "It will be dealt with in the same way that Rafah and Beit Hanoun and 70 percent of the Gaza Strip were dealt with, until they [potential hostages] are returned," he added.

"This is the language that the jihadist terror organizations in Gaza and Lebanon understand, and this is the language we speak: Evacuating the population, destroying the infrastructure and taking the territory," Katz pointed out.