Netanyahu orders army to take control of 70% of Gaza
"We're squeezing them from all (sides). We'll deal with what's left afterwards."
Defying the already fragile terms of Gaza’s October ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has instructed the military to expand its hold over the enclave to 70% of the territory.
“We are currently squeezing Hamas. We now control 60% of the territory in the strip,” he said at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, according to a video broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 network.
- Advertisement -
He said Israeli forces had been holding 50% of Gaza under the ceasefire arrangements, before adding: “My directive is to move to… 70%”.
“We’re squeezing them from all (sides). We’ll deal with what’s left afterwards.”
That push comes as the ceasefire’s long-delayed second phase remains stuck. The next stage was meant to include Hamas laying down its arms and a gradual pullback by Israeli troops.
Under the truce, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw behind the so-called “yellow line”, a boundary separating areas controlled by Hamas from those held by the Israeli army.
Mr Netanyahu said on 15 May that Israel had already widened its footprint inside Gaza.
“There were those who said: get out, get out. We did not get out. Today we control… how much? 60%. Tomorrow we shall see,” he said at the time.
Read the latest Middle East stories
Despite the truce that took effect on 10 October, Gaza continues to face daily bloodshed, with Israel’s military and Hamas each accusing the other of breaching the ceasefire.
More than 900 people have been killed by Israel since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.
Israel said yesterday that it had killed Mohammed Odeh, the new head of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, after killing his predecessor earlier this month.
Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Israel has repeatedly targeted the group’s leadership, both inside Gaza and elsewhere in the region.
Mr Odeh is the fourth commander of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades that Israel says it has killed since the Gaza war began.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz yesterday reiterated Israel’s objective of ending Hamas’s rule in the Palestinian territory and pointed to a plan involving the forced displacement of Gaza’s population.
“The plan for voluntary migration from Gaza will also be implemented – everything will be done at the right time and in the right way,” he said.
